Emily Maynard (Credit: ABC/TheBachelor)I said I wasn’t going to watch this new season of “The Bachelor” on ABC but I’ve crumbled and watched it anyway ONLY to see what happens for Emily Maynard, the young woman who was engaged to Ricky Hendrick, the son of NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick, when he died in a tragic plane crash and went on to give birth to his daughter in the same year.

I feel like premise of “The Bachelor” is only good for the guy and the one woman he ultimately chooses in the end (if he actually chooses someone). Otherwise it’s a painful process that seems entirely unnecessary. Trust me, I understand why women go on that show because, being a single girl that’s just turned 30, I would jump at the chance to meet a ridiculously good looking guy that has a job, too. But I’d rather not know if he’s seeing other women at the same time, kissing them and taking them on special dates and whatnot. I’d rather be clueless and not be involved in his deliberation process, figuring out if he likes me over Lady #1, #2, or #3, etc.

As the last episode illustrated it’s hard to watch the guy you’re into do something special for someone else right in front of your face, which is what happened when Brad took Emily outside for a special mini-picnic in the backyard before the rose ceremony, meanwhile the other ladies saw this special gesture and one chick broke down in tears over it.

So here’s the thing, on the preview for next week’s show they’re taking the women to Las Vegas and they’re going to do a group date at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where from the looks of it they’ll try their hand at racing cars.

CLEARLY, as it showed in the preview, this is going to be tough for Emily. I’m Team Emily all the way and I have a hard time understanding why they would include this activity in the show when HELLO, her deceased fiancee was a race car driver at one time and it was the business of his family.

I just don’t think it was necessary to go there–literally and figuratively. It’s a curious thing to me because in this last episode Brad apologized to Emily for even taking her on a private jet because he hadn’t thought about the connection to Ricky’s death (not that he knew about it at that point). So it’s weird to me that you would then take her on a date at a race track.

As I said before I’m Team Emily all the way, and I’m sure there are plenty of NASCAR fans out there that are too and are protective of her because of her story. I just hope she doesn’t get hurt and that this experience ends up being a positive one and not an exploitation of her life.

UPDATE: Emily spoke with People Magazine about the NASCAR date, where she had this to say:

“I know there has been a lot of talk and concern recently over the upcoming episode of The Bachelor with the NASCAR-themed group date,” she says. “Although I appreciate everyone’s concern, I ask that you reserve judgment until after you’ve seen the actual episode, because, as you’ll see, the experience actually helped me gain some closure.”