Dina Lupancu knew the writing was on the wall during her hometown date with Grant Ellis.
“[I realized I wasn’t The One] during hometowns,” Dina, 31, told Us Weekly during an exclusive interview at the recent Women Tell All taping. “Something that was hard for me, and I didn’t realize until I lived it, was that when you are waiting for your hometown — and mine was last, there is, like, 7 days [of waiting]. Before that was a travel day and then the date in Scotland, we barely got to talk. So you are talking [about] nine days when we didn’t see each other, we didn’t talk, we don’t have our phones, so you don’t have anything to continue to foster that connection.”
Dina joked that when Grant, 31, came to meet her in Chicago she “forgot we are dating.”
“I thought, ‘Could our relationship take the test of time? … Our connection isn’t as strong as I thought it was,’” she continued. “That was the first time where I was like, ‘It may not be me.’”
Bachelor Grant Sends Home [Spoiler] After Her Family Opts Out of Hometowns
Fans learned on the Monday, March 3, episode of The Bachelor that Dina’s family opted not to meet Grant. She recently told Parade that she didn’t “prepare them enough,” which is why they backed out.
“My dad was actually for it. He thought that it was an interesting experiment; it intrigued him. But he [later] claimed that he didn’t know that there was an engagement at the end,” Dina explained. “He was like, ‘How could a guy go from dating 25 girls in such a short period of time and make that type of commitment at the end of this?’ It just didn’t sit well with him, and also he wasn’t actually familiar with the dynamics of the show. He didn’t realize that there’s a camera the whole time.”
Dina is one of 11 siblings and her father is both a pastor and an ordained deacon.
“In his mind, he’s like, ‘I’m this figure in the church,’” she continued. “And it’s important that he keeps a certain example for other families. So he thought the show was something it wasn’t, and that’s my fault for not explaining it. I kind of told [my dad] the basics. ‘It’s a guy and he’s a great guy and he’s got this and that going for him and he’s just looking for his person and it’s a little bit of an experiment.’ I might have glossed over the engagement part. I know I told him, but we weren’t going into great detail. He was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that sounds great. You’re going to be able to have an adventure and learn a lot about yourself. Hopefully you come home really happy with a man.’”
Grant ultimately met Dina’s friends in Chicago, but didn’t give her a rose, opting to continue his relationships with Juliana, Litia and Zoe.
During her interview with Us, Dina admitted that it didn’t take her too long to get over Grant.
Grant Ellis Gave Us a Major Clue About How ‘The Bachelor’ Ends
“It is such a time warp coming home from the show so it is all a blur,” Dina said. “It’s hard to think about it.” When asked how long specifically it took her to move on, she admitted, “I think, like, a few weeks … Is that bad?”
On the show, Dina spoke about being labeled an “ice queen” in past relationships, telling Us that it’s something she has dealt with her whole life.
“I love to talk to new people, I am very warm. I love to meet new people and socialize,” she said. “Getting to know the deep, real me, you are never going to see that unless I trust you, know you and love you. But with guys I’ve dated casually they say, ‘Do you even have feelings? Why aren’t you expressing yourself to me?’ You don’t deserve that, you don’t know me.”
Dina added that when someone does get to know her, she is “the most loyal.” Whether she’d find that match on Bachelor in Paradise is TBD.
“Genuinely, I am not sure. Obviously, being in the experience again and seeing the girls, it made me miss it,” she said. “But I don’t know, I also haven’t stalked any of the guys, so I have to do that.”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Sienna Leone
