Prior Lake native makes final four on 'Bachelor,' getting hometown visit

Prior Lake American

Buckle up Kufrans, because Prior Lake’s Becca Kufrin gets more screen time on week seven of “The Bachelor” than she’s had in the last five weeks.

That’s right — she got another one-on-one.

There are eight women left. Host Chris Harrison announces in the three seconds that he appears in the episode that there will be no rose ceremony. There will be three one-on-one dates and a group date and only four roses to be handed out on those dates.

“So, the pressure is on,” Kufrin said. “I mean, the pressure is always on week by week but this week, it’s on.”

Kufrin receives the first date card which cryptically says, “Let’s fall in love under the Tuscan sun.” They are in Tuscany, Italy so once that difficult riddle is solved, Kufrin and bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. are able to head out for their date.

“To say I’m excited is an understatement,” Kufrin said. “Like, this is so needed! I had the very, very first one-on-one date of the entire season. Right now, I feel like that one-on-one date was forever ago.”

Luyendyk greets Kufrin with a “Ciao, bella!” Get it? Because they’re in Italy? It’s Italian?

Anyway.

The duo head off in a cherry red convertible to the small Italian city of Barga. Luyendyk reveals that there’s no real plan for the date, the two will just hang out and walk around, “maybe have a picnic.” The picnic seems to be the idea they go with and they begin gathering the necessary supplies of wines and cheeses.

“I was very pulled to (Kufrin) from the first night,” Luyendyk said. “But it was so long ago and since our first date, we haven’t really built that relationship throughout this whole journey. We have missed that romantic connection and I feel like we’re just kind of stuck.”

Luyendyk makes it very apparent that he knows about five Italian words but he is determined to use as many of them as possible. They are “buon giorno,” “bella,” “amor,” “ciao,” and “brava,” which he thinks for some reason means “play” but is actually “good.”

After working through that “piccolo” means small, Kufrin and Luyendyk buy a small loaf of bread from a vendor.

“Just being here and not really having a plan but just going with the flow, it’s just telling of real life,” Kufrin said. “It’s just like I’m on vacation with my boy.”

Real life is just like being in Paris the previous week and then Tuscany the next with all of the amazing, limited experiences paid for by the television company ABC.

“I’ve never done that much traveling with a boyfriend,” Kufrin said. “I went to like, San Diego with my ex once and that was about it.”

That sounds more like real life.

Kufrin also opens up about her feelings for Luyendyk.

“I just feel weird about being that girl that’s like, ‘Oh, I like him so much and I’m so smitten with him,’ like I don’t like to do that but it’s happening right now and I’m like, ‘I don’t know what to do with these emotions,’” Kufrin said.

During their picnic on an Italian hillside, Kufrin and Luyendyk talk about how confident they are in their feelings for each other. Luyendyk reiterates that he wants to move forward in the relationship and Kufrin not only agrees, but launches into an explanation of her feelings the past couple weeks and how she is still sure of Luyendyk.

“I never want you to question if I’m into you or if I’m attracted or like, feeling this, because I wouldn’t stick around and put myself or you through it if I wasn’t sure if I could see something at the end of this or I felt enough to be here,” Kufrin said. “It would be so easy to be like, ‘I’m just going to go home.’ The fact that I still see something in us and like, I want to be here for you, like I don’t want to do the easy thing. I want to do in the end what’s most meaningful and open up and kind of get to that point.”

In turn, Luyendyk also opens up: “I like that.”

The day portion of the date ends with quite a bit of kissing, a little bit of cuddling and some dancing under the Tuscan sunset.

“We found that passion and it’s someone that I really envisioned falling in love with,” Luyendyk said. “It was a really good day ... I feel like tonight I just need to make sure we don’t slide back from today. If we can keep moving forward, then I feel comfortable in giving her the rose.”

On the date later that evening, Luyendyk and Kufrin talk about the possibility of a hometown date. Kufrin mentions that Luyendyk would meet her mother, Jill Kufrin, who worked for 20 years as a teacher at Grainwood Elementary in Prior Lake and still lives in Prior Lake.

Luyendyk tells Kufrin he can’t wait to meet her family.

On the date, Kufrin affirms her feelings for Luyendyk.

After the two celebrate with a kiss, Kufrin said: “He’s coming to Minnesota! He’s going to meet my family and see where I was born and raised.”

Chants of “Prior Lake! Prior Lake! Prior Lake!” ring in the distance. A reminder that Kufrin’s mother still lives in Prior Lake. Kufrin is a 2008 graduate of Prior Lake High School. Her profile on ABC lists her hometown as Prior Lake. She was born and raised in Prior Lake.

“You’re coming to Minneapolis!” Kufrin tells Luyendyk.

Um.

That better be for the audience members who don’t realize that Prior Lake is a suburb of Minneapolis. Kufrin does live in Minneapolis now, but again, Prior Lake is where she was born and raised. It’s where her mother lives. It’s where she graduated high school.

Not to harp on this too much, but next week are hometowns. That means it’s a chance for Prior Lake to shine on national television. Imagine a cute date to Edelweiss, or boating on the lake itself? A dinner at Charlie’s On Prior or Perron’s Sul Lago?

It would be quaint and romantic. But, Minneapolis is cool, too.

“I told Becca I’m falling for her and I am,” Luyendyk said.

The show continues on with two more one-on-one dates, one contestant eliminating herself, telling the bachelor she has too many doubts about her post-Bachelor life, including the fact that she would need six years of school to get doctorate.

Next week, hopefully we’ll see Prior Lake on the small screen. Until then, Kufrans.