Imagine: You’re just trying to enjoy the great outdoors. Taking in the peace and quiet around a campfire. Laughing with your friends. And then, all of the sudden, you hear a whistle. A familiar whistle. One that brings back bad memories. Out of the woods he emerges. It’s the one, the only, “Bad” Chad Johnson. Well, there goes the peace and quiet.
On episode three of Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After, which aired October 25, Ben Higgins and fiancée Lauren Bushnell take a break from wedding planning to go camping. They ride along with “The Twins,” Emily and Hailey, from Ben’s season and Bachelor in Paradise, and former Bachelor star Chris “The Farmer” Soules.
Not long after arriving at their camp site, Lace Morris (from Ben’s season) and Grant Kemp (from JoJo’s season) show up to the party. The two met on Bachelor in Paradise over the summer and ended up getting engaged on the finale.
Well, Ben somehow thought it would be a good idea to also invite Chad, because Lauren pulled the whole “he’s really not as bad as he seems” card. Really, Lauren? You do remember that Lace and Chad had a thing at the beginning of Paradise which ended with tons of crying, right?
Also, you do know that this is the guy who threatened to go find JoJo’s fiancé after the show, right? And the guy who punched a door so hard he started bleeding. And the guy whom pretty much no one in America likes. But no big deal, I’m sure he would be so much fun to go camping with! Great choice there, Ben!
As expected, within five minutes of Chad arriving at the campfire, he’s already pissing people off– especially Lace, who is clearly not having a “good time” like Chad said he was there to have.
“You have gone out of your way to genuinely hurt people,” Lace says to Chad, accusing him of blasting her on social media after Bachelor in Paradise.
Lace also brings up the fact that Chad connected with Grant’s ex-girlfriend after leaving the show.
He’s baaack! See Chad TONIGHT on a NEW episode of #BenandLauren at 8/7c on Freeform, the new name for ABC Family! https://t.co/oxqs0ZlYwy pic.twitter.com/YRVFtSDFso
— BenandLaurenTV (@BenandLaurenTV) October 24, 2016
By this point, Lace is crying and everyone else is just sitting around the fire like, “Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t have invited him.”
Ben finally speaks up and asks the camera crew to put down the cameras so he can talk to Chad. The audio keeps rolling, and Ben basically tells Chad that this is his one chance to make things right and apologize to Lace and Grant. Chad, however, has a different plan.
After Lace and Grant come back to the fire following a private chat about how Lace would rather just go home, Chad proceeds to tell Lace that he meant to piss her off in the past and called her out on Twitter because he thought it would be funny. Excuse me, but is this starting to sound very similar to an elementary school detention session?
Grant then chimes in by asking Chad if his late mom would be proud of the way he behaves. Chad responds by saying he doesn’t like when people bring up his mom … and then walks away and goes to bed. Ok, Chad, so you can dish the heat but can’t take it. ‘Cause everyone loves those types of people.
Luckily, Chad magically disappears the next day during a whitewater rafting excursion. Probably a good idea he didn’t go, because Grant and Chad in the same raft equals someone definitely going overboard.
So, what wisdom did the great Chad bestow upon us all with his guest appearance?
Takeaway #1: Chad is still Chad. Arrogant, unforgiving, and always eating (this time, s’mores).
Takeaway #2: Don’t go camping with people who hate you. Clearly a lose-lose situation.
Takeaway #3: Life ain’t all blueberries and paper airplanes. This is actually a Chadism from his time on The Bachelorette. It just really struck a chord with me.
Now back to our regularly scheduled, mostly drama-free programming of Ben and Lauren’s surprisingly normal life after The Bachelor. If you haven’t watched the show yet, check it out. It’s a nice change of pace from the chaos that ensues during the regular franchise shows. Definitely not the most dramatic reality show you’ll watch, but this couple is just too cute not to love.
Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform.