The Bachelor season 29 lead Grant Ellis found himself in the middle of a he-said, she-said game with two of his contestants — and there are receipts.
The drama kicked off in the Monday, February 10, episode when Carolina Quixano claimed she had an off-camera conversation with Rose Sombke. Carolina, who had just received a rose after her first one-on-one with Grant, claimed Rose told her “something strange.”
“She said that last week on our group date, when me and Grant danced together, he told Rose when he was dancing with me he was thinking about her,” Carolina, 29, said during a confessional, before breaking down in tears. “Like, I feel cringey at this point. … I’m not happy. I don’t want to do all of these things if I know for a fact that I’m wasting my time.”
Let Us rewind the tapes (or go back to Hulu) — on the second episode, Carolina, Rose, 27, and other contestants had to write a song for Grant, 31, and perform it live in front of a crowd with the help of Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin. After the group performed, Carolina was crowned the winner of the competition — and got to have a special one-on-one dance moment onstage with Grant.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie. You’re somebody that I do think about,” Grant said to Rose. “I just want to make sure that you know that because I’m very interested in you. Like even today, right? The whole dancing thing onstage and everything, I was thinking about you. I don’t want you to feel like I’m not paying attention, because I am.”
Rose, for her part, gushed in a confessional that Grant made her feel “reassured” in their connection. “I felt heard,” she said. “I feel like I have a crush right now.”
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While it’s unclear to Us when exactly Grant was “thinking” about Rose, it seemed like he had her on his mind throughout the group date — specifically while she was on stage — and not necessarily when he was spending one-on-one time with Carolina.
Flash forward to the next week, Carolina said was feeling “anxious” about what she heard from Rose and claimed the comment “really sucked.” While Carolina worked through her feelings, Litia Garr began gushing over her connection with Grant — which led Carolina to be driven into a “downward spiral.” (Beverly Ortega’s early exit led there to be a second group-date of the week, which ended in Litia, 31, getting one-on-one time with Grant.)
Later that night, the group went to a prom with several familiar faces from Joan Vassos’ season 1 of The Golden Bachelorette — and Carolina addressed the situation with Grant. The former basketball pro seemed surprised by Carolina’s comment and quickly wanted to know who told her that.
“Something in there doesn’t make sense and it seems kind of personal because that’s a lie and it’s a judge on my character,” Grant said, before listing off potential contestants he thought could have made the claim. Carolina, for her part, replied, “I don’t want this to be a thing.”
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Grant continued to become confused, wondering who else was on the group date that could have made the comment. After declaring he wanted to “get to the bottom of this,” Grant began questioning the women — including Rose, who admitted, “I thought that was something that I heard you say.”
“For me to belittle somebody else that I have a connection with, that’s, like, some player s—,” Grant said. “I’m not a player.”
Rose apologized for the comment, explaining that she and Carolina began “comparing notes” on their connection with Grant. “I could’ve easily made that mistake where I really thought that you said something like that and I was just wrong,” she said.
Despite the drama, Grant proceeded to hand her a rose at the rose ceremony later that night. “I decided to give Rose that rose tonight because we have a connection,” Grant said in a confessional. “She apologized and at the end of the day, you know, everybody makes mistakes. I feel like it’s the best decision to move past it and move forward.”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
