Bachelor Ben Flajnik and his gaggle of nine women zipped off to Panama City for three dates, a one-on-one, a two-on-one and a group date.  Courtney continued to dominate camera time with her mean-girl comments, her blatant Ben come-ons and her breast-baring, beaded bikini top. In other words: a perfect reality show star!  One-on-one: First up, nice girl Kacie B. and Ben take a helicopter to a deserted island. "There's sand and palm trees -- and that's it," says Kacie B.  Ben says he sees it as a "test" and hopes they don't "run out of things to talk about."  Courtney's observation: "I'd like to see her go home. She's kind of annoying."  On the little island, the two start a fire, cut open coconuts and catch a fish. She passes the test. "Kacie B. and I are a good team," says Ben.  Later, they have dinner at an outdoor restaurant. As their hair frizzes in what seems to be warm night hair, Kacie B. says she needs to open up. "In high school, I had an eating disorder," she says, explaining that her bulimia and anorexia lasted for about a year. "I learned you don't have to be perfect. But it made me grow up a lot faster."  Ben rewards her by giving her a rose, telling her they have "more to learn about each other." She tells the camera, "I'm falling in love with Ben."  Group date: Emily, Nicki, Lindzi, Casey S., Courtney and Jamie are invited on a group date, traveling down the Chagres River in Panama.  Courtney's observation: "This is my third group date and, honestly, I'm over it. I just want to spend more time with him."  They get off at the Embera Village, following some little soccer-playing kids. No one knows what's going on, but the girls are told to put on tribal garb.  Courtney: "Why be modest? Go bikini-less!" She shows off her beaded top with nothing underneath. ABC puts a big black bar across her chest, so we don't get to see. But loincloth-clad Ben does.  He tells the camera later, "I appreciated that."  They all start body-painting each other. Courtney paints "B+C" (Ben and Courtney) on Ben's back. "It feels like a one-on-one date with five other girls around," she chirps. Courtney doesn't hold back from shaking her breasts at every opportunity.  Later, they gather by the pool. Ben talks to Lindzi, telling her how easygoing she is. They kiss.  He grabs Courtney for some private time, and they kiss. Says Ben, "I want to let you know that I really appreciate the fact that you notice me and you're assertive and confident. ... Don't stop doing it."  She whines: "I feel like I need to keep that spark alive. I'm in Room 1611 and we can just lay there and be quiet ..." She pushes his hair aside and kisses him.  He grabs some time with Jamie and while she's yakking, Courtney steps over to the pool right next to them and strips down to her white bikini and takes a dip, walking back and forth with a glass of wine.  "It's very difficult to focus," says Ben.  Emily grabs some time with Ben and, deadly serious, admits there's another man in her life. "I don't think I can deny it any longer. ... It's the chief" of the tribe, she says. He's impressed by her sense of humor. All seems fine until Emily goes back to the girls and tries to apologize to Courtney. Wily Courtney refuses. "I mean, I can't give you what you want to hear. It is what it is."  Lindzi gets the rose from Ben.  Courtney turns up her nose as the rose goes to another girl. She goes back to her room and puts on makeup, hoping Ben will visit her room. "That would be better than getting a rose." She waits, waits, waits. "I've been consistently disappointed by men," she says. Ben never shows up.  Two-on-one: Blakeley and Rachel. "I'm so excited," says Blakeley.  Rachel isn't. "I don't want to be a third wheel," she says. "I'm freaking out a little bit."  Courtney's observation: "I want them both to go home."  They all go to learn how to salsa dance. Rachel says, "Ben and I are definitely connecting."  Then she has to stand by and watch while Blakeley flirts with Ben and wraps her leg around him. Says Rachel to the cameras, "Blakely is tacky... distasteful and really uses her sexuality a lot."  At dinner, "an incredibly nervous" Rachel tells Ben she wants to stay. "I don't know what the hell I'm going to do," he tells her.  Blakeley pulls Ben away for a while and presents him with a scrapbook of her feelings. "I want that rose," she says.  Sorry, Blakeley. He gives it to Rachel.  Blakeley storms out as soon as he does. She's crying. "Blakeley, will you slow down for a minute? ... Will you at least give me a chance to explain?" says Ben. Ah, the perils of dating so many women. "I'm sorry, Blakeley," he says. She cries, hugs him and finally gets in the car and leaves.  Surprise of the night: Host Chris Harrison tells Casey that "three different people back in the United States" told him she is in love with a guy named Michael "back home. We talked to Michael. He said you guys are still in a relationship."  "That's not true," she says, explaining that Michael was never sure he wanted to get married, so she didn't want to stay with him.  They go to talk to Ben, and she admits, "I'm not completely over him."  Ben says he wishes she had been honest with him because he has sent women packing who could still be here. She starts to cry. "I think that you should go home," Ben tells her. If we had gotten to know her more, we might have cared more. Bye, Casey. Adding insult to injury, she ugly-cries as she leaves in a minivan.  And just like that, we're down to seven women. One more will go home.  Observes Courtney: "I think it's either Emily or Jamie. I'm OK with that. I'm OK with all this."  In a bizarre scene at the final cocktail party, Jamie tries to show that she's sexy and sits on Ben's lap to kiss him. Then she sits next to him and talks to him about how they should kiss. It's pathetically awkward.  At the final rose ceremony, he sends her home.  Kacie B., Lindzi, Rachel, Nicki, Courtney and Emily raise their glasses as Ben tells them they're headed to "exotic and tropical" Belize.
Awkward kissing. An eating disorder confession. A surprise exit. Salsa dancing. And tears. 'Bachelor' Ben whittles down to six women.