Tonight Pearl Harbor naval doctor Lt. Andy Baldwin hands out his final rose — and a marriage proposal.

The bride-to-be will be either Bevin Powers, the 28-year-old clinic research coordinator from Palo Alto, Calif., or Tessa Horst, the 26-year-old San Francisco social worker.

Last week Baldwin fielded questions from various media — including The Advertiser — about tonight's finale and his experience finding love on reality TV. Here's an excerpt from the group interview.

Q. What did you like best about each woman?

A. Bevin is not afraid to show who she is. What you see is what you get. She wears her emotions on her sleeve ... Tessa is very grounded ... I saw a lot in her and I was falling for her. In the last episode she started to come out of her shell and she let her guard down.

Q. What's it like for you both to watch the show now?

A. It's definitely hard. I know what I did, but the reason it's so hard for her is obviously because all she knew was the good time she had with me. I did my best to prep her and let her know what she's going to see. I say, "Listen, honey, put yourself in my situation. The method of the madness and the way this (show's) format works is that you are dating several women down to the end. Although I know how I feel about you now and at the end, that's what counts now. But let's focus on the future and not the past. That's the process we needed to go through to get to where we are, and let's be thankful we found each other."

Q. Were you surprised by some of the things that went down in the mansion?

A. Yes, when I see these episodes every Monday, it's the first time I'm seeing it, too. Seeing what was happening in the house, that's been enlightening and revealing to me.

Q. Are you worried about the challenges you may face after the show?

A. There's definitely going to be challenges, and that's something she and I have a very good understanding on. We basically have two different lives. We'll have our private life ... but now we're thrust into this public eye. I think we're both prepared.

Q. It seemed like you were doing most of the chasing with Tessa. Is that true?

A. I guess you could say that ... The women come in and it's "Andy, Andy, Andy. We love you, we love you." Tessa was like, "How can these people be in love with you and don't even know you?" She was very grounded ... She went into it not realizing how invested she would be and how far it would go. She stayed true to herself to the end. I found myself ... pursuing her because of what I saw, the qualities in her that I really liked and I wooed her and courted her through the process. The tables got kinda turned.

Q. Did you think the show fairly depicted you?

A. There were definitely some times when I cringed, like every time I said, "Amazing." Do I really say that that much? But there are times when I would use big words and (the producers) would say, "You can't say that. Say it another way. People won't understand what you mean."

Q. What about the cheesy lines?

A. A lot of the cheesy lines are my cheesy lines. I'm a romantic, emotional guy. When I said I felt electricity in my soul with Bevin, that's what I felt. And when I said my heart was full with Tessa, that was all me.

Q. You propose at the end of the finale. Did you set a wedding date?

A. No wedding date is set. As I've said all along, first up is her moving here and us living together in the real world and falling in love with each other all over again and living a somewhat normal life outside "The Bachelor" world. We'll see how things go. We're both very happy and optimistic.

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.