Tomorrow night, Krisily Kennedy might get her wish, to finally have Charlie O'Connell all to herself.

09:35 AM EDT on Sunday, May 15, 2005

BY ANDY SMITH
Journal Television Writer

Boxer Peter Manfredo Jr. is not the only Rhode Islander battling it out on reality television this week.

Journal photo / Bill Murphy

Krisily Kennedy, of Warwick, says, "In real life I would never date a guy who told me he needs to date another woman. This is definitely different, definitely strange."

In a very different kind of competition, Warwick's Krisily Kennedy is trying to win a man's heart on ABC's dating show The Bachelor.

The Bachelor is down to just two women, Kennedy and Texas labor and delivery nurse Sarah Brice. Bachelor Charlie O'Connell will make his choice in a live broadcast Monday night. The three-hour Bachelor finale begins at 8 p.m. on Channels 5 and 6.

O'Connell may or may not propose Monday. In the meantime, he's been dating both women since the last episode of The Bachelor was taped in March.

In a phone interview, Kennedy said network confidentiality rules keep her from discussing any details of her recent dates with O'Connell.

She acknowledged the whole situation is a bit surreal.

"In real life I would never date a guy who told me he needs to date another woman," she said. "This is definitely different, definitely strange."

It's entirely possible, Kennedy said, that she could be rejected on live television before millions of people. (About 8.2 million viewers watched The Bachelor's May 2 broadcast.)

"Nervous? I'm very nervous. I don't see how you can't be," Kennedy said.

In a separate conference call this week with TV writers, O'Connell -- described in network news releases as an actor and real estate investor -- said he is "definitely leaning one way."

But which way?

"I wish I knew," Kennedy said. "The time we've spent together has been great. Some days, I think he'll pick me; some days, I think he'll pick her."

O'Connell played it cagey on whether or not he would propose marriage: "I'll be happy for Monday when I can date just one girl or start a relationship or whatever it's going to be," he said.

Whomever he chooses, Kennedy doesn't believe he'll propose. "I think he'll be a little more realistic about it," she said.

Kennedy, 25, was Miss Rhode Island USA in 2003. Now she works at her cousin's hair salon, Michele Martin Salon, in Cranston, and as a bartender at the Mardi Gras, also in Cranston.

Martin said Kennedy does everything at the salon except work on hair -- making appointments, bookkeeping, payroll, ordering equipment.

Kennedy said casting directors for The Bachelor came to the Mardi Gras about two years ago, looking for Bachelor contestants. One of the directors started talking with Kennedy and thought she'd be good for the show.

At the time, though, Kennedy had a boyfriend and she wasn't interested.

But Kennedy kept in touch, and when this season's casting call rolled around, she was single and ready to try romance, reality-style.

"I thought it would be a great way to meet a guy, a great way to make new friends. It seemed like a fun thing to do," Kennedy said.

She has not exactly been a shrinking violet on The Bachelor. In one of the early episodes, she let O'Connell lick salt off her torso as he downed a shot of liquor.

She also clashed with some of the other contestants, notably Sarah Welch, who irritated almost everyone with her "people-hate-me-because-I'm-so-beautiful" remarks.

"They definitely portrayed [Kennedy] the way she is," said Martin, Kennedy's cousin and boss. "She's honest. She speaks her mind. She is who she is. "Some people hold things back and don't really tell you what they're thinking. Krisily is not like that."

Kennedy's family got into the act when O'Connell paid a visit to Warwick -- and Krisily's grandmother, Kathy Kennedy, made a particularly vivid impression.

She did a bump-and-grind dance with O'Connell, and later advised her granddaughter to get the bachelor into bed. All of that was broadcast by the Bachelor's cameras.

"Nana's a spitfire," said Krisily. "I got most of my outspokenness from her."

During a date with O'Connell on the island of Aruba, Kennedy spent the night with O'Connell. But The Bachelor's cameras did not venture behind the closed doors of O'Connell's hotel suite.

Kennedy said less happened than people might think.

"For me, it was a chance to get to know Charlie, away from the cameras. Nothing happened. . . . We were up all night talking. We were like two little kids."

In the conference call, a reporter asked O'Connell if he had also spent a night with Sarah Brice, the other finalist. O'Connell said he wasn't about to kiss and tell.

"I feel there's definitely a good girl/bad girl thing that goes on between me and Sarah B. in some people's minds," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said she hasn't spoken to her competitor in the weeks since The Bachelor taped its last episode, which had both women visiting O'Connell's family in Montauk, N.Y.

But Kennedy said she and Brice became friends when all the Bachelor contestants were living together in a New York City loft.

"She was my closest friend in the house," Kennedy said. "She was the girl I pillow-talked with every night. . . . I think if Charlie picks her, he will be getting a really nice girl. But I hope he picks me."