After a nine-week “journey,” The Bachelor star Grant Ellis handed out his final rose — but first came a lot of agonizing about which woman he loved more. His down-to-the-wire decision resulted in a brutal breakup at the Proposal Platform™, and some very uncomfortable moments in the Tealight Candle Thunderdome.
Let’s recap!
We begin with a teaser of Grant’s struggle to make a decision between Litia and Juliana. And then it’s off to the Tealight Candle Thunderdome, where host Jesse Palmer dutifully hypes the events we’re about to witness. “There has never been a Bachelor who has been more torn over the two final women at the end — and when I say the end, I mean the very end,” teases Palmer. “This is going to be an emotional and a historic conclusion that you truly will not see coming.”
Jesse Palmer on ‘The Bachelor’ season finale. ABC
We’ll believe it when we see it, buddy. For now, let’s head back to the Dominican Republic, where Litia is about to embark on the all-important meeting with Grant’s family. “I picture Litia being my wife,” Grant informs us. “Litia is loving, patient, kind. Obviously, she’s beautiful, and she’s ready. I think my family’s going to love Litia.”
Whatever happens, something good has already come out of this “journey”: It’s brought Grant, both his parents, and his sister all together for the first time in almost a decade!
Grant and Litia meet Grant’s mom, dad, and sister on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
During the get-to-know-you chit-chat, Grant lets his family know that he and Litia bonded over their morals and their faith. “From there, we continued to grow,” he adds. First impressions? “You guys are definitely cute together,” Robert gushes. “You both have dimples!” And Taylor tells Litia she’s liked her since “day one.” (As you may remember, Taylor met many of the women on Grant’s first night.)
Litia has her first one-on-one with Renee. She says she knew she loved Grant when she saw him with her (big, Mormon) family. Litia doesn’t mention her religion, though — at least not that we see. Renee asks her potential daughter-in-law how she imagines her life with Grant might go, and Litia says she is ready to move to be with Grant and would want their kids to “learn” from each side of the family. Renee LOVES it. “Litia’s very humble, and she’s genuine, and she loves Grant,” says mom. “She would make a great daughter-in-law.”
Robert opens his chat with Litia by asking if she’s ready to be married. Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: “I just feel like your life starts when you have kids,” Litia says. Grant’s dad is pleased with her answers. “You reassured me,” he says.
It seems like all systems go for Litia, but our Bachelor has just one little reservation: Her biological clock. Grant explains to his dad how Litia told him she wants to start trying soon, within two years, but that doesn’t really align with Grant’s vision. “The next three to four years, I really want to experience life and travel with my partner and have fun,” he says. “Right now, that’s our biggest issue.” Robert has some good advice for his son: It’s fine to have a plan, but life doesn’t follow the rules — so flexibility is key. “If you love the person, don’t let one little issue stop the show,” says Robert. It’s a very sweet conversation, especially given how strained their relationship has been in the past.
The visit ends with hugs all around. Grant seems to be riding high from how well the family meeting went. “It only reaffirms my feelings, that I do love you,” he says. Litia responds in kind — and then reveals that Grant is the first person she’s ever said “I love you” to. Ugh, these two are really, really cute together.
Grant smooches Litia on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
“After today,” says Litia, “I am the most confident that I’ll be engaged at the end of the week.”
Hold that thought, ma’am. It’s Juliana’s turn now. And apparently, her visit is happening the same day as Litia’s, because Grant is still wearing that pink shirt with the weird fuzzy stars on it.
While Grant has “really strong feelings” for Juliana, he’s a little worried that she’s not ready to be engaged — so he’s hoping mom, dad, and Taylor can help him gauge her emotional preparedness.
Juliana, Grant, Renee, Robert, and Taylor on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
The Bachelor explains that he and Juliana have “similar stories” in terms of their upbringing, and they each want to break out of their “lone wolf” mentality and forge a family with their person. “I sense that she brings peace to his life,” observes Renee, before pulling Juliana aside for a one-on-one chat. Time for the million-dollar question:
Renee has an important question on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
This seems to catch Juliana off-guard. “Okay, so, um…” she begins. “Grant and I have not told each other we love each other. I’ve been kind of holding back a little bit in that sense because of what that means.” Mom doesn’t love this answer, but she tries to be diplomatic: Does Juliana think she’s heading in the love direction?
“An engagement means forever to me,” Juliana replies. “Love means forever to me, and he is truly somebody that I can see myself being in love with…. I just want to make sure I can give him that.” (In her confessional, she clarifies that she pretty much doesn’t want to say it until she knows she’s the last one standing — which is understandable.)
From there, Renee reports back to her son: “She’s not quite there yet.” Grant suspects that Juliana is just protecting herself. Renee understands that, but for her, the lack of an L-bomb is a dealbreaker: “If she doesn’t tell you she loves you, I am asking you to walk away from that.”
Oh snap — no pressure, Juliana! Fortunately, Robert takes a less interrogatory approach with her during their sit-down chat. “Juliana, do you have any questions for me about my son?” he asks. She wants to know if Robert thinks Grant will truly allow himself to experience and express his sadness and frustrations when life gets hard. It’s a situation Grant’s dad knows well. In the past, Robert says, when he’s tried to help Grant through a rough patch, his son tells him, “I got this. I need my space.” Of course, Robert knows this could be because Grant wasn’t yet ready to trust him. Either way, he believes Grant trusts Juliana. “He feels safe around you,” says Robert. “He needs that.”
Oh boy, get the tissues, rose lovers. Grant and his dad are about to have a heart-to-heart. “I’m here for you,” Robert says. He starts to cry as Grant says how happy he is to be able to sit and talk with his dad about important feelings, which is something he’s always wanted to do. “I feel like I have a friend, a best friend, I can talk to,” says the Bachelor, who also starts to cry. Robert says he’s so proud of him and regrets how much he put his family through. “You’ve been there for me,” he says through tears. “You’re my heart man. It’s because of you that I’m here.”
Okay, now I’m crying, too. “I love the man that you’ve become,” says Robert. “I’m not leaving you no more.” Okay, now I’m full-on weeping. Damn this stupid show. Hug it out, you two!
Robert and Grant hug on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
In a surprise turn of events, Grant ends his visit with Juliana by saying “I love you” first. His goal, I suppose, is to see if it gives her the confidence to reciprocate, even though there’s still another woman in the mix. Will it work? Let’s listen in…
Juliana drops the L-bomb on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
Cool! Now it’s all up to Grant — and as we’ve seen from the promos all season, our Bachelor is not great at being decisive. That said, Grant’s not the first lead to find himself in love with two women. “I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this movie before,” jokes Palmer. We sure have! Please welcome…
Charity, Clayton, and Gerry on ‘The Bachelor’ finale. ABC
It’s Charity (The Bachelorette season 20), Clayton (The Bachelor season 26), and Gerry (The Golden Bachelor season 1). Only one of them has a mullet, but all three of them joined the “in love with two (or more) people” club during their seasons. Now they’re here to offer some insight into how in the hell Grant got himself into this mess. “I obviously felt those feelings,” says Charity, who said “I love you” to both Joey and Dotun during her season. “Toward the end, you face decision paralysis. You’re running out of time. There are a lot of things that feel like limitating [sic] factors.” Clayton, who dropped the L-bomb on three (!) women, explains that in his case, he had fallen in love with Susie, Rachel, and Gabby “for each of their own unique characteristics.”
As for the briefly married Gerry, he says being on the show creates a kind of psychological delusion that facilitates the “I’m in love with everybody” idea. Okay, I’m paraphrasing. Here’s what he actually said: “[When] you’ve committed yourself to finding your person, all of a sudden you look at these women that you have a connection with, and you believe in that moment that they are the right person. Unless you’ve been in that spot, it’s hard to describe.” Consequently, the trio doesn’t have much advice for Grant, other than “trust your gut.”
Perhaps Grant’s gut will give him some clues after his Last Chance Dates™ with Litia and Juliana. Juliana goes first, and she joins Grant on a catamaran for some champagne and swimming. That night, he joins Juliana in her hotel suite, where she’ll have one last chance to Open Up™. Grant needs to know: Is she really ready for an engagement? “That’s a good question,” Juliana replies, perhaps stalling for time while she thinks of an answer. “What I can at least promise you moving forward is that I will do my best to handle your heart with care.”
In other words, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. And hey, I’m not going to judge someone for not being able to say “yes, I’ll marry you” after barely eight weeks of dating or whatever — but if Grant’s looking for reassurance, this ain’t it. Fortunately for the Bachelor, Juliana isn’t done. The more she talks, the more Juliana is able to convince herself (and Grant) that she’s ready for an engagement now that they’ve said “I love you” to each other. Awesome.
Litia, you’re up!
Litia and Grant ride horses on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
When the rain really starts to come down, Grant and Litia head to a covered patio for some champagne and schmoopy chat. Once night falls, they meet up again in Litia’s hotel room for even more champagne and a few “final questions” from Grant. Specifically, how flexible is Litia on her marriage-and-babies timeline? Like, what if Grant wants to wait three years instead of two? Litia tells the Bachelor her reaction would depend on why he wanted to wait. “If you’re not ready and there are things you want to do, I think, of course,” she says. “I want you to feel ready, and I want both of us to feel excited.”
Good answer! And I’m sure she believes it in this moment. But something tells me if Litia hits 33 and Grant says he wants her to wait until she’s 34 — just one year before she’d be classified as “advanced maternal age” — she might lose her damn mind. Right now, though, all Litia wants is to make Grant happy. “You are so much more than enough,” she says, choking up. “I love you.”
This makes the Bachelor super emotional. “I know what I need, and I see that in you,” he says. Litia’s reaction is perfect:
Litia has a suggestion for Grant on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
Grant laughs. “You’re funny,” he says. Uh-oh, is that foreshadowing? Either way, the Bachelor still has no clue what he’s going to do. And he’s still confused the next morning. “I went to bed last night thinking I knew what I wanted,” says Grant. “But I woke up and I realized that I still don’t.”
In a perfect world, poor Grant would walk away from this whole situation and spend a few weeks alone, processing his feelings until he achieved some kind of clarity. But this isn’t a perfect world, or the real world — it’s The Bachelor, and producers are damn sure not about to give this man the time he needs to make a good decision. Instead, they send Grant’s dad to his room for one last pep talk.
Robert and Grant have a heart-to-heart on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
“There’s risk on both sides,” Grant says. “I’m just scared that when I leave here that things will be different.” Robert reminds him that “bumps in the road” are a part of marriage, and while someone will be hurt in this situation, “Life goes on.” Most importantly, Robert assures Grant that no matter what, everything is going to be okay. And he’s not wrong! The stakes may feel high, but they’re not insurmountable.
What time is it, rose lovers? It’s (promotional consideration provided by) Neil Lane time!
Neil Lane gets his contractually obligated screen time on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
It’s got to be hard for Grant to choose a ring since he’s not sure which woman he’s choosing for, but I’m sure the guy will do his best.
The afternoon continues to creep by. Litia and Juliana get all gussied up in their gowns and climb into the SUVs that will take them to the Proposal Platform™. Grant puts on his suit and tie and tucks the ring box in his pocket, but he’s not yet ready to leave his final confessional. “Give me a second, man,” he tells the producer.
Grant is struggling on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
Your second is up, pal! An off-camera voice tells the Bachelor, “We do need to head out.” He scoffs and shakes his head. “This is insane!” You’re right, Grant, it is insane! And it’s completely, utterly false! Producers are imposing this fake deadline on their star because it makes for better television — and probably also because they want to film the proposal before the sun goes down.
But dang it, Grant, who f—ing cares what producers want? When will these contestants learn that they are truly the ones in control? What were producers going to do if Grant refused to leave until he was ready? They certainly weren’t going to physically force him to get the SUV. They’d grumble, they’d cajole, they’d manipulate, but ultimately, they would just have to wait. (And go set up some lights at the Proposal Platform™ in case it gets dark.)
Alas, Grant is a good soldier, so he gets into the SUV as requested. Palmer is waiting for him when he arrives.
Jesse Palmer nudges Grant for a decision on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
“Grant, here’s the thing,” Palmer says. “Both women are on their way here right now. I really need to know which one to send first.” That’s not helping, Jesse!
Somehow, Grant gets it together and makes a decision. Maybe he flipped a coin? Just kidding; The Bachelor says he took his dad’s advice and decided to follow his heart. And at last, it’s finally, FINALLY time for us to learn who will NOT be getting engaged today.
Litia arrives on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
Dammit! Poor Litia. And I’m not just saying that because she’s about to get dumped — the woman’s dress is so tight, she has to take tiny little baby steps as she makes her way down the wet and slippery path. Eventually, she makes it there.
Litia and Grant share an awkward kiss on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
“Grant, I started falling for you on week two,” Litia begins. “On our one-on-one in Scotland, I knew that I loved you, hearing you talk about your childhood… It made me want to give you a family.” Oh boy, it’s always so painful watching the runner-up-to-be giving their big pre-proposal speech, full of hope and declarations of love. “I can see you as my husband,” continues Litia. “I love you so much.”
Okay, Grant, please just rip the Band-Aid off. “You are one of the most amazing, beautiful women that I’ve ever met, and you deserve love,” he begins. “You deserve to be treated right.”
Then it happens.
Grant gets ready to break the bad news on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
In that moment, Litia knows it’s over. “This is hard for me,” Grant says. “Litia, I love you very much, and I want to give you everything that you deserve, but I’m not your person.” With that, Litia tries to pull her hands away, but Grant holds firm. So, she fixes him with a piercing stare and demands some answers. “When did it change?” (Answer: It didn’t, I love you, but I love someone else more.) The Bachelor keeps apologizing and tells Litia that he hopes she doesn’t view him any differently, but she cuts him off: “Well I do, for sure. C’mon, now!” Also, Grant, please knock it off with this “I hope you’re not mad at me” BS — of COURSE Litia’s mad at you, and you should understand that she has every right to be furious! Stop trying to micromanage her reaction to your hurtful actions, however earnest your motives were.
Litia is mad, she’s confused, she’s flabbergasted to the point of amused. “I got my answers,” she says. “Yeah, you’re different than I thought.” Grant is clearly hurt by this, but he doesn’t have much to say in his defense. “I’m just trying to figure out what best suits me,” he says. “That’s where I’m at.”
Rather than continuing their relationship postmortem, Litia ends the conversation on a classy but clearly pointed note. “Juliana is a beautiful woman, and she deserves love,” she says. “And I love her. And I would have a lot of questions if I were her, from the things that you’ve said for me. That’s stuff for you guys to work out — that’s none of my business.” Translation: Have fun explaining to Juliana why you kept telling me you loved me right up until the last day!
Grant offers Litia his arm so he can walk her to the Reject SUV. As they leave the platform, Litia sums up the whole encounter with a wry (and hilarious), “Yeeeeahhh.”
The Bachelor tries to talk to her off-camera — “You feel like I’ve been misleading?” — but the best he can do is pull Litia behind some palm fronds. “Grant, come on!” Litia shoots back. “The things that you’ve said to me all along the way make this decision that you’ve made so much more devastating. For me, the switch-up is crazy.”
Litia has a very reasonable reaction to Grant’s actions on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
The Bachelor finally realizes there’s nothing he can say, because Litia is 100 percent right. He agrees to “take responsibility” for his actions. “I tried to do my best,” he says. “And I’m truly sorry.” Litia’s all, That’s cool, bro, but I’m still mad at you. And she has every right to be.
Oh my GOD, rose lovers. I feel awful for Litia, but I feel preemptively terrible for Juliana, who is truly not going to be loving life once she watches this season back and realizes how close she was to being Grant’s number two. I’m looking forward to hearing from the “happy couple” later in the Thunderdome. But first…
Litia enters the Thunderdome on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
Hell yes, she looks incredible. Litia says that after watching the break-up back, “It doesn’t make more sense now than it did to me that day, but I think it just reminds me how shocked I was, and how I really felt like I got the rug pulled out from under me.”
And it’s not just because Grant said “I love you” — according to Litia, Grant told her early and often that she was the one he would pick in the end. “Grant and I had talked a lot about that day, and everything he had ever said about it was that it was going to be us.” On their first one-on-one date, he told her he could “stop the show now” because he knew she was the one. That kind of talk continued, Litia adds, until the final night, when she and Grant had this conversation: “I remember saying goodbye to him and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re getting engaged tomorrow!’ and he said, ‘I know, I can’t wait! I love you, I love you, I love you.'”
Oof. Has anyone checked on Juliana? She might need an EMT right about now.
Palmer asks Litia if she thinks she was truly in love with Grant, and her answer is a third-degree burn. “I loved the parts of Grant that he chose to show me,” she says. “I learned a lot about him that day, and in watching it back, it’s given me a lot of context — and I think he made the right choice.”
Double oof. As for the “timeline” that the Bachelor kept fretting over, Litia says that it “wasn’t new information” to him. According to her, she and Grant talked about it in week two. Grant “continued to give me reassurances and promises” along the way, she adds. “Every time I pumped the breaks, he pressed the gas,” says Litia. To make matters worse, the poor woman got food poisoning in the Dominican Republic, so when she got home, she was dealing with physical distress on top of a broken heart. Fortunately, her loving family was there to pull her through. And her parents are in the audience tonight, no doubt ready to stare daggers at the man who just arrived on the Thunderdome stage.
Litia reunites with Grant on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
“I just want to start by saying that I don’t think you’re a bad guy,” Litia says graciously. “You talked a lot in the beginning about honesty and maturity and accountability.” From there, Litia proceeds to list all the ways Grant did not embody those qualities. He told her during their first one-on-one that she was his pick and insisted that his mind “is not going to change.” He gave her a journal in Madrid so they could “read through it together” at the end. He told her that from the first group date, he knew that she was his wife. “Those aren’t things that you say when you’re conflicted,” Litia points out. “You never let up, up until the last night…. Where is the protection and the honesty and the maturity that you talked about?”
The Bachelor is chastened, and he knows he done f—ed up. “As a man I have to accept responsibility for my actions. I’m definitely not perfect,” Grant begins. Ah, the old “I’m not perfect” chestnut! It’s a staple for messy men everywhere. Anyway, the Bachelor apologizes to Litia for hurting her and the people she loves. “That’s all I can say, that I’m truly sorry,” says Grant. “I had to make a decision that was best for me, and it came down to the wire for me…. I went with my heart, and I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
Though the Bachelor doesn’t regret saying “I love you” to Litia, he does regret his mistakes, specifically, “speaking early in situations when I didn’t know how conflicted I would be. I didn’t know the severity of this journey…. I think that I spoke too soon in a lot of situations, and I will accept responsibility for that.” Litia’s all, That’s fine, but why did you keep running your mouth about me being your number one? Why didn’t you ever tell me you were conflicted? Grant can’t really explain it, other than that as the Bachelor, it’s easy for feelings for multiple women to start blurring together.
As far as apologies go, it’s not much. But Litia already seems over it. “I’m glad that this whole last week and that last day isn’t a part of my love story,” says Litia. “I know I deserve someone [who knows] without a shadow of a doubt that they’re going to choose me.” The crowd bursts into applause, and with that, this painful reunion is over.
Welp, that was something. But let’s not forget, there’s still a proposal in the offing. Juliana, your time to shine has arrived!
Juliana and Grant on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
Love the dress, ma’am. Juliana takes a deep breath and begins her speech. “I can now stand in front of you as a woman who feels she is very deserving of the type of love that you’ve given me,” she says. “I believe that between you, me, our families, and God, the sky’s the limit.” Awww, that’s sweet. And she made it through without hyperventilating — barely.
We all know where this is going, rose lovers, so I’m gonna skip ahead. “I’ll be there for you as your man, as your friend, as your partner,” says Grant. And then…
Neil Lane’s diamonds are usually not forever on ‘The Bachelor’. ABC
I don’t hate it. Of course, Juliana says yes. The Bachelor is thrilled. “I knew it was you,” he declares. Uh, no you didn’t, pal — but Juliana will have to find that out for herself. Congrats, you crazy kids! Now, hurry back to the States, because Palmer is waiting to interview you in the Tealight Candle Thunderdome.
Juliana and Grant on ‘The Bachelor’ finale. ABC
“The whole journey’s felt a bit like a fever dream,” giggles Juliana. “I’m just so excited to get dinner with this man and have a glass of wine. We’re free!” Juliana goes on to say that she and Grant have spent the last few months “reconnecting” and “getting to know each other” more. When it comes time to ask Juliana about Grant’s painful indecision on proposal day, Palmer totally softballs it. “I know there are some in Bachelor Nation who are probably wondering your thoughts on how long it took this guy to make his decision,” he says with an affable chuckle. “Have you given him a lot of grief about it?”
Ask a lame question, get a lame answer. “I don’t think grief is the right word. I think I’ve given him grace,” Juliana says demurely. “He’s the type of man who really does lead with his heart, and he came into this open-minded, and he really let himself experience what you need to experience with all the amazing women that we had… I think he made a good decision.”
That’s it. No questions for Juliana about the excruciating awkwardness Juliana must have felt watching Grant agonize over who to choose — not to mention hearing Litia reveal everything she did about her conversations with Grant on the stage tonight. Instead, Palmer shifts the conversation to Grant and Juliana’s families, who are sitting in the audience and smiling supportively. Because what else can they do? There are cameras rolling! I’m sure Juliana’s dad, Carl, had — or will have — plenty to say to the Bachelor in the privacy of their off-camera lives.
In perhaps the most irrelevant update of the night, rose lovers, Juliana and Grant reveal that they’re moving to Boston to begin their lives together. And by “lives,” I mean “the next six months,” because I truly do not see this relationship lasting much longer. I don’t wish them ill by any means, but even the strongest couple would have a hard time surviving all this unfortunate (and in Grant’s case, self-imposed) drama.
But let’s end on a happier note: Bachelor in Paradise will be back this summer. Zoe from Grant’s season will be there — and her new bob won’t be the only twist. Please welcome…
Gary, Leslie, and Jesse Palmer on ‘The Bachelor’ finale. ABC
LFG, rose lovers! It’s Gary from The Golden Bachelorette and Leslie from The Golden Bachelor! We’re finally getting Golden Bachelor in Paradise — sort of. As Palmer explains, “For the first time ever, Golden men and women will be hitting the beaches of Paradise alongside all of your Bachelor and Bachelorette favorites from seasons past. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited for anything ever!”
Same, Jesse. Same.
Well, how are you feeling after all that, rose lovers? Do you think Grant should have chosen Litia, or maybe not chosen anyone until he was ready? How do you think the Bachelor handled his breakup with Litia? Would you want to watch Litia as the Bachelorette (even if we had to wait until 2026)? And will you be watching the sweaty (and now senior-infused) mess that is Bachelor in Paradise? Post your thoughts below!
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