The Bachelor’s Selma Alameri: Sean Lowe Was “The perfect human being”

Selma Alameri

One of the awesome perks of being an undercover Bachelor obsessed writer is having access to the press calls for the show through my column with Television & Radio Business Report.  I’ll be going about my lawyerish day, sitting on calls, drafting up emails summarizing the analysis of licensing requirements, transactional strategies or corporate governance restructurings when BAM, my iPhone dings and there’s a happy little email sitting there.  It tells me that for 45 minutes of my normal work week, I’ll be able to dive into Bachelor la la land and interact with these characters I watch on TV each week.

This time around, it was Selma Alameri, the Iraqi beauty who won’t make-out with Sean on camera.  I had a number of questions for Selma and I know you do too.  Luckily, I think we got most of the answers.  Here are the highlights:

On whether The Bachelor is the right sort of forum for someone like Selma given her decision not to kiss on TV:

Selma responded that she doesn’t need to make out with a man to know if she likes him or if their lives are going in the same direction.  It’s more about his touch, his caring manner and the way he looks at her.  She could “easily fall in love” without having to make out with him.

Is Sean someone that fit in with Selma’s family? Would he be accepted? He’s grown up fairly differently:

Selma said, “Our family is American.  We live the American culture.”  They date and her mom knows they date.  Her brother-in-law is a “blonde hair, blue eyed Catholic” American boy.  It sounds like the restrictions her mother requested for Selma to respect has more to do with respecting her mother’s traditional Muslim beliefs as well as those in the family’s circle.

On Selma’s own religious views:

She is not a Muslim, but rather, was born into a Muslim family.  Her mom practices the religion and while she is spiritual and believes in God, she is not a practicing Muslim.

On whether she was serious that she wouldn’t kiss Sean until she was the “last woman standing” as she said to the camera during her one on one date this past week:

At the time (her first date), Selma believed she would not kiss Sean, but she didn’t know what was going to happen.  She did make the comment that “things change…life happens…you act on emotion.”  [HMMM...sounds like we're going to get some emotional making out soon enough between these two!  I am sure Sean will not be able to resist those boobs much longer.  I can barely stop looking at them].

Did Selma herself think that kissing Sean was wrong?

No, she doesn’t think showing affection in public is a bad thing like her mom does.  But her mother’s one request with Selma going on the show was “Please just don’t make out with him on television…don’t be that girl.”  Selma felt it was a simple request that she could live with and it was also a way to see if Sean would respect her culture and her family, as her family is a big part of her life.

Did Selma hope The Bachelor would be Sean?

Yes! And she was definitely happy about it.  Sean is “the perfect human being.”

About Tierra:

Selma stayed away from the drama.  But Sean did not see the crazy side of her.  She was crazy around the girls, but with Sean, she’d be batting her eyelashes.  Like a sweet little puppy.  ”This girl has got him so fooled.”

We also learn that Tierra is involved in a 2 on 1 date and there are some extremely dramatic moments coming up on the group date (we’ve seen the previews of her shivering).

The rest of the discussion covered Selma’s date – she really had never been rock climbing before, was seriously terrified of heights but wanted to prove to the world that she was more than just a glamour girl.  We learned that AshLee was her closest friend in the house.

I asked her whether her family watched the show and what they thought of Sean.  She said they did in fact watch the show (her mom and several sisters) and they thought Sean was a sweet guy – very down to earth.

Then I got scolded for my next question.  I asked this, “Were you in love with Sean?” to which the moderator got angry that I was asking this as if it was past tense and I shouldn’t be implying anything.  So I got all lawyer on her ass and said, “I believe my question refers to how Selma was feeling at the time – WAS she in love with Sean at that point?”  (Ok, so maybe I was hoping she’d slip or something, but I am sure they coached her to prepare for people like me.

Selma’s response: “I was very crazy about him.”

My next question was going to be “Is Sean a good kisser?” but I refrained – I don’t want to get banned from the calls.

So that’s really all.  Except for the part where one of the reporters questioned what Selma thought of Sean basically thinking every girl is “the one” after spending any sort of private time with each.  Which kind of made me laugh.  But Selma was really sweet – saying how she didn’t envy Sean and they “really picked good girls for a good guy…(she thinks) he had a hard task and that he genuinely liked each girl.”

Don’t forget – we’ve got a double header next week.  Monday night, it’s the regular time 8 PM EST / PST til 10 PM.  Then Tuesday from 9 to 11 PM EST / PST we’ve got a second episode.  I should start napping NOW.

Til next time, please “Like” my Facebook page http://facebook.com/OfficeStace to get updates in between posts (and see a picture of my beautifully pregnant Scottish Work Friend from her baby shower today!).  You can also find me on Twitter (@OfficeStace).