Entertainment

Lesley Went From Being Sean's Losing 'Bach' Contestant To Being In His Wedding

Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC

The winter can be a sad time if you’re a television fan — when television shows are on hiatus for the holidays (or, in this case, for the Winter Olympics), it’s torture to wait to see what’s going to happen to your favorite characters. Luckily, The Bachelor franchise is giving us fans something new to watch — The Bachelor Winter Games is here to fill the hole in programming and in our hearts. It features contestants from both old and international seasons of the franchise, and it’s nice to see some familiar faces. Like, for instance, Lesley Murphy, who was on Sean Lowe’s season of The Bachelor. What? You don’t remember Lesley? Well, let’s talk about what happened to Lesley on Sean's Bachelor season.

Tall, blonde, Christian Sean Lowe placed third on Emily Maynard’s season of The Bachelorette, so it was only natural that he would get his own television series on The Bachelor. He was young, handsome, and highly marketable to the American public. Lesley was cast on his 2013 season, and she probably had some fun on the show. Her first group date was that of a photo shoot with Sean in the style of those Harlequin bodice-ripper novels. He was shirtless, eyelashes were a-flutter, and everyone had a good time. Lesley’s first one-on-one date was a date that Bachelor fans will remember was sort of re-used on Bachelor In Paradise 4 with Evan and Carly — making the couple on the date kiss onscreen for as long as it takes to get a spot in the Guinness Book Of World Records. If you’re thinking it sounds slobbery, well… yes. Evan and Carly’s was way worse (it involved peppers), but if I were Lesley, I don’t know that I’d be so into this one either. Three minutes and 15 seconds is way too long to lock lips.

Later in the season, Lesley went head-to-head against Tierra, the villain of the group. Tierra was your typical Bachelor drama queen, and Lesley was all, “Why do you have to be like this” to her. It was a valid line of questioning at the time. To be fair, Lesley pulled her own nonsense on a date in Jasper National Park when she, much to the chagrin of the other women, jumped into Sean’s canoe for a little extra one-on-one time. It’s the aim of the game, of course, but that doesn’t mean that the other contestants are here for any of the women being particularly thirsty.

Lesley was ultimately eliminated in fifth place, just short of hometown dates, and, after she didn’t get a rose, she told the cameras that she was falling in love with Sean. Too bad she didn’t express these feelings to Sean, because later, after he found all of this out, Sean said that he would have given Lesley a rose that night. But que sera, sera. Lesley went home, and Sean went on to choose and marry Catherine Giudici, and the two are still together with a cute little family. And there’s no bad blood there — Lesley was a bridesmaid in Sean and Catherine’s wedding, and she and Catherine are still good pals.

After The Bachelor, Lesley spent a year living in Argentina, and she became a travel blogger. According to People, she also had an elective double mastectomy after discovering she had the BRCA 2 gene, and she chronicled it all on her blog. Now, I guess that Lesley is ready and looking for love again, and she's headed on national television to do it. Why not? Lesley's learned and grown a lot from her first stint on The Bachelor, and now, it's time for her to have another go-around.