The Bass Fishing Bachelor (and his best girl)

So I admit it. I watch The Bachelor. Sometimes. I never watched any reality shows until Byron made his debut in the genre back in...when was that? Three years ago? Wow, hard to believe.

But since then the lovely woman that Byron chose (pictured above with her man and bass angler Chuck Economou) has become one of my best chicas. Mary Delgado is a gem.

I remember the first time I ever saw Mary (in person). We were at the competitor meeting for the first BASS event of the 2005 season and she was there with Byron. I was looking forward to meeting her, but I have to admit that I was a little incredulous that this glamourpuss would really want to hang in the bass fishing world. Since then I've gotten to know MaryDiva (as I call her) and she is the real deal. She only LOOKS like a glamourpuss. In reality (and I mean the real reality, not the "reality" you see on primetime) she can hang with the best of the bass fishing crowd and is as genuine as the day is long.

So tonight I'm watching the After the Final Rose episode of this season's Bachelor and was so pleasantly surprised to see Byron and Mary make a guest appearance. And my girl was representing. I was so proud to hear her say "I've fallen in love with the sport of fishing." In fact, both of them talked about fishing for most of thier time on air.

After they left the stage and the high drama of the show continued, I was amused when I saw another familiar face in a crowd reaction shot.

First, you gotta know that the ratio of men to women in that audience was about 1 to 10,000. And most of the women there looked gorgeous.

So who is in the audience but Ish Monroe! I have to wonder if he was there auditioning for the next cycle of the show, or to check out all the pretty girls. Nah, not Ishama...I'm sure he was just there to support Byron and Mary. (right)