'Bachelor' NASCAR Date: Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

The date hasn't even aired yet, and it's already stirred up fury among some ABC "Bachelor" loyalists. Emily Maynard, the beautiful blond vying for the affections of Bachelor Brad Womack is essentially the widow of a race car driver. Next week, Brad takes her on a group date ... to a NASCAR race track.

We first knew Emily was different when she told the other girls her fiance died in a plane crash and she discovers days later she's pregnant  — and the entire house of crazies cried with her. As the now-eliminated Meghan from New York says: "She’s like this little itsy, bitsy Barbie doll with the soul of Mother Theresa. So you want to hate her, but you can’t because you can’t hate Mother Theresa."

On Monday, a promo for next week's episode showed Brad jauntily dressed in a race car suit at a race car track, and a traumatized Emily, who tells him, "You think you’ve left it behind and you come here." Brad: "I feel like a jerk." Some viewers also were unhappy about the upcoming date. A poll on the Warner Brothers' Bachelor website asked viewers what they thought, and 77 percent so far have voted for "It's cruel and completely inappropriate." Host Chris Harrison did not improve the situation when he told tvguide.com that producers picked the date on purpose, although he asked for viewers to wait for the entire episode to air.

"It's a very moving episode and obviously a moving date," he said. "It's definitely scary, but again if you play armchair psychologist, it's kind of a hurdle they need to get over. We have to force the issue because we have such a time constraint. It puts Brad on the spot, puts Emily on the spot, like you guys are either going to deal with this and go forward, or it's not going to happen and it's over." Conveniently, it's also good for ratings.

We already decided we want Emily to be the next Bachelorette, and former Bachelor Jason Mesnick concurs, so if this episode sends her running for the hills, maybe our wish will be granted.