ABC/Craig Sjodin
Tonight, the final three contestants in season 23 of The Bachelor have their fantasy suite overnight dates with Colton Underwood. Tonight is especially important to the Bachelor because, as you probably know, he went into the season a virgin and the fantasy suite dates are known for being an intimate next step for the remaining relationships.
Before tonight’s new episode, here’s a recap of what happened last week during hometown dates:
Beware of spoilers. If you are not caught up with the latest episode of The Bachelor and do not want to know what happened in episode 8, stop reading!
Last week, the final four brought Colton Underwood to their respective hometowns to see where they grew up and meet their families. Hannah Goodwin brought him to Birmingham, Alabama, Caelynn-Miller Keyes brought him home to Fredericksburg, Virginia, Tayshia Adams brought him to Orange County, California, and Cassie Randolph brought him to Huntington Beach, California.
The episode showed Underwood spending time with each of the contestants on dates that the women set up based on what they most wanted Underwood to experience in their hometowns. Hannah G. brought Underwood to an etiquette class, and Tayshia got him back for their bungee-jumping date earlier in the season with a sky diving trip. When he met their families, the test for Colton was to see how well he fit in to each of them and hopefully get their blessings to propose to whichever woman he ended up choosing. While all the families had their tough questions for Underwood, when he asked for Cassie’s father’s blessing, he was refused it.
After all four dates, he made the decision to send Caelynn Miller-Keyes home during the rose ceremony elimination. It was between her and Cassie for the final rose, and both women were the subject of drama during the previous episode because Tayshia and Kirpa alleged that they were only there to hopefully become the next Bachelorette.
This means that heading into the fantasy suite dates, Hannah, Cassie, and Tayshia are the three remaining women vying for Underwood’s heart and proposal at the end of the season.
After she was eliminated, Caelynn shared a post on Instagram reflecting on her experience and reliving it all as it aired on TV months later: “Wow, it’s a weird thing watching yourself fall in love on TV. These past few months have been really difficult. I put my whole heart on the line and I fell in love with an incredible man in the strangest way. Colton, thank you. You constantly pushed me and challenged me, and I walked away from all of this a better person. Mom, John, and the entire fam, thanks for going through this wild journey with me. I love you all, and am so thankful you could be there during this. No matter what happened, this was the best experience of my life and I came out stronger. Thank you all for letting me share my life with you. I appreciate the love and support.”