'Bachelor' Bob's Pick: Estella!

By Mark Armstrong

Wednesday November 19, 2003 10:04 AM EST

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Did Bob really pick Estella over Kelly Jo? You better Belize it.

In the shocking (shocking!) two-hour finale to ABC's hit "The Bachelor," main man Bob Guiney chose Estella Gardinier, the sweet-voiced 28-year-old from California, over Kelly Jo Kuharski, 24, the supposed frontrunner from Kalamazoo, Mich.

Bob bought a ring -- but instead of proposing, the divorced mortgage broker asked Estella to wear it on her right hand "as a promise" for the future.

"After meeting you on that first night you put my hand on your heart ... you stood out in my mind in so many different ways," he said.

"It's so much more than enough," said a shaking, tearful Estella (also a mortgage broker), who outlasted 24 other bachelorettes and memorably hit it off with Bob during their dream date in South America.

The semi-proposal, of course, also meant that Guiney had to go through "the hardest thing I ever had to do" -- turn down viewer favorite Kelly Jo.

"The fact that I met someone like you means the world to me," he told her, saying that he appreciated her expression of love for him. "However, knowing you the way that I do, I know that you deserve to have that exact same back to you. ... At this point, I don't know that we're meant to be together."

He then told a shocked Kelly Jo, "It kills me to have to say that to you," and asked, "Are you okay?"

"No," she said, tearing up.

Afterward, the stunned bachelorette admitted, "I'm so sad. My heart is broken."

The finale wrapped up with both women paying a visit to Bob's family's home, facing interrogation by his parents and sister. The two women also had one last date with Guiney, and Estella questioned Guiney on the possibility that he may be deliberating over a third choice -- to walk away without picking either woman.

Kelly Jo, meanwhile, played the confidence card, expressing her love for Bob and saying she was okay knowing that he couldn't immediately return the sentiment. Still, she said, "The feeling I have is that he's gonna pick me, and it feels great."

Prior to his decision, both women left Guiney a video message, and Kelly Jo once again gushed, "When I look in your eyes, you're no longer the man I'm in love with, but you're the man I want to spend the rest of my life with."

The entire episode, of course, led viewers to believe Kelly Jo was destined to be The One. The announcer, meanwhile, teased to viewers that "one woman's hopes and dreams are about to be crushed."

Before his decision, Guiney told host Chris Harrison that he was ready for a commitment.

"After the failure of my first marriage, I was focusing on my career and having fun," he said. "For the first time, I'm thinking about moving forward in a relationship with someone."