Buckle up, Bachelor Nation, it’s recap time! Monday night marked the end of season 29 of The Bachelor. We followed Grant, one of his shorter than most, season of love. And it’s that time of year when we see if Grant can keep the streak of successful Bachelor relationships. The past two Bachelors, Zach and Joey, are both still engaged to the women from their season. Let’s dive in. As always, spoilers for the finale are below!
Grant is left with two women, Litia and Julianna. They are both pretty strong connections, and Grant doesn’t seem to know who he will be proposing to in the next few days. The girls meet Grant’s family, and both meetings go over pretty well. Both women tell Grant they are in love with him. This is a complete love triangle. Litita loves Grant. Grant loves Litita. Grant also loves Julianna. Julianna loves Grant. But the question of the night is, who will Grant choose! After this first day, Grant still doesn’t even know.
The next days are the girls’ last one-on-one dates. Grant seems to be giving both girls validation for both to be expecting a proposal. This is very different from last season, when the runner-up, Daisy, knew in her heart that Joey was going to pick Kelsey. Both girls have great dates, and they’re all having a good time. To be honest, I don’t have a lot of emotional stake in either of these relationships. Since this season was so short, we don’t know the girls that well and haven’t really seen their relationships fleshed out.
Grant is preparing for the proposal. He picks out the ring he’ll give his future fiancee, but does he even know who that is? (No, he doesn’t). The girls are pampering themselves, both in good spirits, minutes before the audience will be shown how one will leave heartbroken.
Pause. It’s time to hear from Jesse Palmer at the Live studio filming. He says Grant was at the proposal venue and still DIDN’T KNOW WHO HE WAS GOING TO PROPOSE TO! Now, I hate confrontation and hurting others’ feelings, but Grant, for real? Jesse Palmer is asking him which limo to send first; the girls are waiting, and Grant can’t say who it is. I’ll give Grant the benefit of the doubt that he deep inside truly knew (in some sense). But still.
Finally, the first car pulls up. If you’re not familiar, the first car will be carrying the girl he gets broken up with. The runner-up of Grant’s season in Litia. She steps out and walks up to Grant, and she had to know he was not going to propose to her just by the look on that man’s face. But still, we have to go on with the ritual. Litia proclaims her love for Grant and excitement for the future. And Grant tells her he won’t be proposing and can’t give her the love he deserves. Ouch. (He also kisses her two times and says he loves her before breaking up).
Litia has what some are calling “a switch up” the moment Grant rejects her. She’s usually very soft spoken and almost talks to Grant in a baby voice”, but she suddenly turns cold towards him, and her southern accent starts coming out. (There’s nothing wrong with that! This is a girl who thought 100% this guy was going to propose to her– we’ll talk about this more later. Litia says Grant was different than she thought, and based on the things he was telling her then he gave her a false hope that it was her at the end. She tells Grant that for Julianna’s sake, she hopes Grant is totally upfront with her. That means it’s time to bring Litia out to talk to Grant for the first time since they broke up– you guessed it– on live television in front of a studio audience! I bet this conversation is going to bring them all the closure these two need and be really healthy!
Litit and Grant have to sit on the couch together and talk out their feelings, with host Jesse Palmer as moderator. Litia talks about how she felt very blindsided. She had told Grant she knew what she signed up for and knew rejection was a way to end this, but even going up to the night before engagement, Grant told her they would be engaged by the end. Grant really doesn’t have a good response to this. They go in circles about how Grant could have told Litita the truth that he didn’t know it was going to be here but likely kept her so she didn’t want to leave on her own. Nothing comes from the conversation; mostly, Litia dragged Grant through the mud, making allegations about his actions in their relationship, most of which Grant doesn’t even try to rebuke.
Well, on that happy note, let’s watch Grant propose to Julianna!
Julianna walks to meet Grant at the engagement venue, and the look on his face is so different than when he saw Litita. He obviously is very in love with Julianna. (I would like it on the record that I called Julianna as the winner). They profess their love for each other and get engaged! It was a very cute proposal. I do think they were a lot more compatible with each other than Grant and Litia were.
Back at the live taping, Jesse announces that Julianna and Grant are still together. They seem very happy. They’re even coordinating dress and suit colors. Julianna doesn’t bring up anything about Litia and says she doesn’t care that Grant didn’t seem to know until the day of whom he’d propose to. She’s empathic to his situation as the lead of the show and trusts him.
So we end the season with another happy couple! We’ll have to see in the next few months if they last, but even though they may not be my favorite Bachelor Nation couple, I do think they’re kind of match-made in heaven. “They match each other’s freak”. I was on the phone with my mom, talking about how Grant had dropped a song before the season premiere. After watching a few episodes of the season, I said, “Julianna is the only one who would let Grant release that song. She’s hyping him up.” The other final four girls, Litia, Dina, and maybe even Zoe, would not let him do that. And don’t you worry, Grant dropped a new song the morning after the finale aired! A perfect bookend to this weird season.
Update: Grant already took down his new song “Highschool Crush”, but stream “Party Girls”, I guess.
I need Bachelor in Paradise as a palate cleanser for this season.