The Bachelor

The ninth season opens with Prince Lorenzo Borghese, a 34-year-old Italian aristocrat who has lived in the U.S. since he was 5, meeting the 27 women he'll consider to be his bride. Two of them are Italian crashers at the opening party, held at a castle that was built in 1604, and they're not greeted warmly by the American invitees, who aren't especially nice to each other, either. By the end of the show, 15 ladies get the boot.

The 12 remaining bachelorettes move into a villa, and before three rose-less ladies move out at the end of the episode, Lorenzo squires one, Lisa, around Rome's Villa Borghese. This doesn't make Lisa popular with some of her competitors. Group dates include a motor-scooter tour of Rome and a Mediterranean cruise, where one bachelorette passes out after drinking too much. There's also an emotional breakdown, suffered by Erica. And back at Lorenzo's villa, two bachelorettes break into his bedroom.

Nine bachelorettes remain, and Lorenzo takes six of them to a Tuscan castle for a sleepover pool party. And he spends a night at the opera on a one-on-one date. It's a Cinderella evening for Jami that begins in a Maserati, but it could end (figuratively speaking) in a pumpkin. Meanwhile, Sadie tells Lorenzo she's saving herself for marriage, and fireworks literally cap another bachelorette's date with him. At the rose ceremony, Lorenzo has six to bestow.

Lorenzo, who is a licensed private airplane pilot, flies one of the ladies in a private plane to the Roman baths for a one-on-one date to Tivoli. Following the flight, the two get intimate in the ancient Roman baths. A group date to the historic Roman aqueducts has the remaining women competing for Lorenzo's affections, as they race each other, riding authentic Roman chariots for a special wish from the Bachelor. Lorenzo also shares a private dinner with another bachelorette in front of the Vatican, which also happens to have the Borghese name on its fagade. Then they take a romantic carriage ride to the famous Trevi Fountain.

Lorenzo is feeling the mounting pressure as he leaves to visit each of the final four women's hometowns and receives some rude and unexpected awakenings.

It's the ultimate whirlwind for the final three women - Jennifer, Lisa and Sadie -- as Lorenzo travels across Europe to some of the most romantic and exciting locations in Sweden, Budapest and Sicily for their exotic dates. The three bachelorettes are falling hard for the handsome Prince, with one woman pouring her heart out to him, another pulling out all the stops to get to the Fantasy Suite and the final woman finding her lifelong morals severely tested. It's a wild, romantic ride with each of the ladies -- until Lorenzo has to make a heart-wrenching decision to eliminate one of them.

Prince Lorenzo must make one of the most difficult decisions of his life, struggling with his final choice about who will be his future Princess, on the gripping two-hour special conclusion.