ABC/Craig Sjodin Tayshia Adams speaks with Chris Harrison before handing out her final rose.
Ben Smith’s return in episode 12 of The Bachelorette wasn’t that surprising to those who paid close attention to the season previews. While he lamented that he never got a chance to tell Tayshia Adams he was falling in love with her, a promo during a previous episode already showed him expressing those feelings.
But Smith’s return was left with a cliffhanger ahead of the season finale. It’s still unclear whether Adams will bring him back for the final rose ceremony of the season or if he’ll be sent straight back home.
Even spoilers expert Reality Steve wrote he’d “be shocked if Ben meets [Adams’] parents and gets to final 2, but who knows?” Reality Steve has been wrong about many spoilers so far this season and he’s not confident about much of anything heading into the last episode.
Here’s what we know about Smith’s return heading into the season finale:
Adams Gave a Hint a Month Ago During an Interview With Rachel Lindsay
GettyRachel Lindsay on the red carpet for Love After Lockup series panel.
Over a month before the finale, Adams and former Bachelorette leads Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin sat down for a two-day special that was a crossover of the podcasts Bachelor Happy Hour and Click Bait.
During one part of the interview, Lindsay confused Kufrin when she asked vague questions about the circumstances surrounding her conversation with Adams on the set of The Bachelorette. Now that her conversation with Adams has been aired, the context of that interview makes a little more sense.
“I kept looking over my shoulder and I was like, wait, maybe this will happen,” Lindsay said. “Tell me that happens.”
Eventually Adams said that the mystery scenario that Lindsay talked about did end up happening.
In the conversation that aired during episode 12, Adams and Lindsay talked a surprising amount about Smith. The likeliest conclusion with the context of hindsight is that Lindsay was asking Adams whether or not Smith ended up returning to the show.
“Ok, so it happens. Do we go right or left with that?” Lindsay then asked on the podcast. “Do we embrace it or not?”
“Embrace it,” Adams answered.
Lindsay sounded happy about that response and said that she felt Adams “should have the opportunity to see everything through and flesh things out.”
If Lindsay was really asking Adams coded questions about Smith’s return, it seems that Adams embraces the opportunity to explore her lingering feelings for him.
Previews Showed a Whole Lot of Ben Smith
ABC/Craig SjodinBen Smith is a contestant on Tayshia Adams’ season of ‘The Bachelorette.’
Promos for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are notoriously misleading by design, but even the most talented editors would have a hard time stretching only a few minutes of Smith’s return into what was shown at the end of episode 12.
The preview for the final episode of the season showed Smith: Kissing Adams out on a courtyard, telling cameras “there’s no way anybody has a better connection with her,” and looking at an engagement ring in (maybe) his hands.
Perhaps it’s a quick turn back out the door for Smith and deceiving editing showed someone else’s hands with a ring, but it sure looks like he’s back for an extended period.
Meanwhile, another final three contestant, Ivan Hall, is only shown a couple times and every time he’s shown in the preview he’s wearing the same turtleneck and blazer combo. The lack of wardrobe changes could be a bad sign for those hoping Hall leaves with the final rose Tuesday.