Jen Schefft is Better Single Than Sorry

I have to admit I was one of the people who were annoyed when Jen Schefft failed to find love not once, but twice, on ABC's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Made me feel like I wasted my time watching the shows (even more than I usually feel when watching reality tv).

Jen responded to critics like me by writing a new book called Better Single Than Sorry: A No-Regrets Guide to Loving Yourself and Never Settling.

Chicago's Red Eye talked to Jen about her critics and her response:

Jen Schefft, the winner of "The Bachelor" and its follow-up, "The Bachelorette," said she received angry letters from audience members when she struck out at love twice on national TV.

Schefft was engaged to "The Bachelor" Andrew Firestone, but the couple broke up within a year. ABC offered her a second chance at marriage in "The Bachelorette," but Schefft declined the proposals of her final two suitors.

The outraged attitudes of female viewers who urged her to settle down inspired the 30-year-old public relations executive to write "Better Single than Sorry," which hits bookstores Jan. 23.

"There was such a backlash when I didn't end up getting married from either show," Schefft told RedEye. "I was surprised, but that's kind of what society tells women ... that we have to get married before we're 30."

Schefft said she has nothing against marriage, but:

"You have to be willing to wait for the right person," Schefft said. "I've waited this long, and I'm certainly not going to settle now."

When in the heck are they finally going to do another Bachelorette? Enough with the Bachelors already - since the only marriage to result from the show was from The Bachelorette (Trista), not from The Bachelor (although, Mary and Byron are supposedly still engaged).

[Photo from ABC]