Our resident Bachelorette expert, Natalie Getz, says Ashley Hebert’s love for Bentley Williams was so deep that his self-imposed departure threatened to ruin the show.

Getz says that if Williams hadn’t come back from Utah on Monday night’s episode to make it clear he wasn’t interested in Hebert, all the other contestants would have been screwed.

“The producers knew that Bentley was leading Ashley on with that stupid ‘dot dot dot,’ and realized that she would have not fallen in love with any of the remaining guys,” Getz explained.

“She would have turned down proposals and ran off to Salt Lake City, only to be disappointed! They had to spend money to get Bentley out to Hong Kong so that Ashley could get closure on their two week relationship so that she could move on with JP and the other guys,” Getz continues.

After meeting with Bentley on last night’s show, Ashley proved that she’s now over the controversial douche bag, telling the camera during a confessional, “Bentley, if you’re watching this, f–k you, I’m done with you.”

But our expert says Ashley’s revelation could be too little, too late. I have to say, whoever Ashley ends up with is going to need to be strong. She is so obsessed with Bentley. This season is frustrating because she is pretty much telling all the guys that they are second best.”

And what guy in their right mind would want to be second best on a season of the Bachelorette?