The Bachelor's Ben Flajnik: 'Group Dates Suck'

Ben Flajnik

Craig Sjodin/ABC

Well, well, well ... last week's episode of The Bachelor was quite the first night! I hope you all enjoyed it. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to take the women to my hometown of Sonoma, Calif., and show them where I come from and how important community is to me.

Right off the bat when the women arrived in Sonoma, I was excited to hand out my first date card, which, as you know, went to Kacie B. I was really excited to get to know her because she exuded so much confidence the first night. She is a woman of integrity and love, and made me feel right at home.

Our evening consisted of lots of emotional moments, including a wonderful dinner, sharing home movies â€" and our first kiss. We talked a lot about our life, our family and really got down to the nitty-gritty early on. I don't remember being with a woman where I opened up so much on the first date! I was immediately impressed with Kacie B. and knew she was something special.

Watching the home movies was a super emotional experience for me, as I hadn't heard my father's voice in almost five years. I was lucky to have her around to be a shoulder to lean on.

The first group date: Wow. I was so excited to see how the group of women would act around the children and handle the actual performance later. I was impressed! These women owned their roles like crazy. I loved seeing this fun side to them and when we were all walking through the town square in our elaborate costumes, I was hysterical laughing with them. It's hard to describe how awesome it was to be a part of the Sonoma community theatre that night. I hope they will have me back sometime.

Unfortunately, later that evening things didn't go quite as smoothly. Let's put it this way, group dates suck. Like night one, it's hard to see everything that's going on with the women, their drama and how they are getting along. Little did I know that Blakely was the cause of the drama that night. Again, my assumptions were completely off. Whoops. I guess I will learn as I go.

I was excited for my date with Courtney because I really enjoyed talking with her the first night. I was happy to learn how normal it felt to hang out with her. I think that the way you see it on TV does it justice in that we were very comfortable with each other.

I was surprised that we were so lovely-dovey so early on, as it was just the start of my journey and I knew there were lots of other relationships I still needed to explore. It really helped that Scotch was a fan of Courtney's too.

On to the cocktail party: Again, more Blakely drama. Uh oh. Here's the thing. The women might have been upset at Blakely's motivation, but I found it okay in the moment. She was determined to talk to me, finish her conversation and get to know one another better. Most people won't agree with me there, but I liked her persistence.

Jenna. Oh, sweet Jenna. Unfortunately for Jenna, this situation and environment was not for her. She crumbled under the pressure and was truly not herself. My heart went out to her for struggling so much, and I couldn't put her through anymore of this journey.

The rose ceremony for me was a tough one. It was a cold night, full of drama, tears and more tears. I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible as I was dreading saying goodbye to the ladies leaving that night.

That's all for now. I can't wait for all of you to see next week's dates in San Francisco, along with THE MOST DRAMATIC ROSE CEREMONY EVER.