ABC/Craig Sjodin
Tonight is the conclusion of The Bachelor season 23. Last night’s part 1 of the finale episode was a dramatic, following Cassie Randolph’s departure from the show and Colton Underwood’s much-teased fence jump at the end of the previous week’s episode.
Beware of spoilers below.
The episode picked up immediately after Underwood’s fence jump and disappearance, with Chris Harrison and the film crew searching for him in the open fields at night. After driving around looking for him, they finally found him and Harrison got out of the car to try to convince Underwood to get in the car and go back to the hotel. Underwood agreed, but not before telling Harrison that he was done with the show.
The next day, Underwood reflected on the fact that Cassie Randolph left and that he still wanted to be with her. He decided that he wanted to prove that to her, and that he knew what he had to do.
The next scene showed Underwood knocking on Tayshia Adams’ hotel room door in Portugal. Her smile quickly faded as she realized something was wrong, and he told her that he was in love with Cassie and therefore needed to end things with Tayshia. Tayshia asked to speak privately, off-camera, and audio recorded of their private exchange showed that Tayshia was there to support Colton as he broke down during their break-up, before she started crying, too.
RT if you would do the same! ❤️ #TheBachelor #TheBachelorFinale
After the break-up scene aired, the show cut to the live studio audience and Chris Harrison, who invited Tayshia out to discuss her experience on the show and how she was doing after the break-up. She and Underwood had the opportunity to talk again for the first time since their split, and she said she hopes he is happy and that she can’t wait to find her great love.
After commercial, the show returned to Portugal and finally showed Hannah G., who was still waiting for her fantasy suite date with Colton, unaware of what had happened with the other women. She revealed to the cameras that she was ready to tell Colton that she loves him and could see herself spending the rest of her life with him. She answered the door excited to see that Colton was on the other side of it. When they sat down in her hotel room to talk, he told her that she had been his rock through the whole experience and always picked him up, but that he can’t be in love with two people. He told her that he loves Cassie, but that he “thought it was going to be [her].” She revealed that she was completely in shock, and that she believed it was going to be them at the end of it. As they broke up, he said he didn’t know if he was making the right decision.
The show cut to the live audience and Chris Harrison on the couches with Hannah Goodwin, who explained that she was completely blindsided and thought Underwood was showing up to surprise her at her hotel room. Though she said it’s been really hard to watch the show back and relive everything, she revealed that she is no longer in love with Colton Underwood.
Colton came out to talk to Hannah for the first time since Portugal, and she explained to him that he never gave her a reason to think it wouldn’t be them in the end and that she didn’t understand why he didn’t continue to give her a chance when he said he thought it would be them the whole time. In response, Colton said that he broke up with her after realizing how completely he gave himself to someone else and didn’t want Hannah to be the back-up plan.
“It’s literally how much I love Cassie. It’s that I’m willing to walk away from something that great.” #TheBachelorFinale
Before the first night of the two-night finale concluded, Chris Harrison shared a preview of what’s to come. The video showed Colton in Portugal alone, reflecting on the journey being over and how he “doesn’t wanna leave here without her.” The clip then cuts to Cassie packing her bags and telling the camera that she misses Colton but knows she made the right decision because she doesn’t want to take what Colton is after away from him.
Tune in to the season 23 finale of The Bachelor, tonight on ABC at 8/7c.