IU reacts to Little 500 Grand Marshal Ben Higgins from The Bachelor
Who else is swooning?
It is fitting that on the Monday before Quals the IU Bloomington Newsroom announced Ben Higgins, IU alum and star from The Bachelor, will be attending the Little 500 festivities as the Grand Marshal.
What exactly does that mean you may wonder.
Well, as the Grand Marshal, Little Benny — a nickname I’ve given him — will be the one to announce and shake the hands of all the teams who will be participating in the Little 500. The most exciting part of this is that Ben will be giving all the womens riders a rose, which is really just a reminder that he was on The Bachelor.
Ben will be accompanied by his fiancée — and the lucky winner of his heart — Lauren Bushnell.
I know I am definitely so excited about this. So surely other people are too. Consequentially, I surveyed Hoosiers near and far to see how they felt about Ben Higgins coming to Little 500. There are people who were very interested and those who were not that interested. These were the best answers to the question I exclaimed at them:
How do you feel about Ben Higgins coming here for Little 500?
Steven Leonard, Junior in Journalism
“Is that the bachelor guy?”
Audrey Smith, Freshman, Neuroscience
“He makes my heart melt like a popsicle on the 4th of July.”
Alex Woodcock, Sophomore in Biochemistry
“I was hoping he would go with Jambalaya or whatever her name was.” (Note: Her name was Jubilee.)
Matt Delaney, Junior
“Who’s Ben Higgins?”
Samantha Kaplan, Junior in Non-Profit Management
“I wish I could fly home from Rome to see him.”
Brandi Harrison, Sophomore in Exercise Science
“Some frat guy put his name in my phone as Ben Higgins…”
Allie Gold, Sophomore in Graphic Design
“I hate that he’s famous for getting paid to find a fiancée on TV.”
Adam Eldibany, Senior in Finance and Tech Management
“Anyone who gets paid a lot to date borderline models on national TV is the man.”
Meghan Kaminski, Freshman, Marketing
“I didn’t think the IU campus could get anymore beautiful, but it’s about to.”
Sophia Muni, Sophomore
“I hate that he’s considered like a ‘hero’ like what he has done is so great, if you put me on a reality TV show I could find love too.”
I also heard someone say, “It really shows what you can do with a Kelley degree,” but they ran away before I could ask their name.
So, there you have it, folks. It’s really a mix of attitudes about those who care, those who don’t, and those who actually have no idea who Ben Higgins is. For those of us who love him, until Little 500 rolls around we’re just going to have to look at photos of his cute face.