The Bachelor Recap: The Wrong Reasons (Season 23 Episode 7)

Hometowns are fast approaching, and you know what that means: sh*t is getting serious on The Bachelor Season 23 Week 7.

Colton kicks off the episode by once again venting his frustration that he may choose a woman who isn’t ready to marry him. He seeks guidance from past bachelor Ben Higgins, which is weird because Ben isn’t exactly a franchise success story.

Regardless, Ben’s advice is to “lean in” and basically trust his gut.

The remaining group of seven heads to Colton’s hometown: Denver, Colorado. After some quality time with his dog, Sniper, Colton pulls Tayshia for the first date of the week.

One-on-One: Tayshia

A lot of this date is spent with Colton stressing about what Katie, Sydney, and Demi told him last week. With not a whole lot of prompting, Tayshia offers up that she believes Cassie and Caelynn are the two women whose intentions are in question.

Tayshia’s evidence for believing Cassie and Caelynn are there for “the wrong reasons”? She heard that they’d been talking about their odds of snagging the title of the next Bachelorette and all of the events they’d get to go to after the season wrapped.

Obviously, Colton is not thrilled to hear all this, because C & C are two of his favorites. He pushes through to try to enjoy the rest of the date.

Colton and Tayshia go back to an apartment — which I think is supposed to be Colton’s? Unclear — where they cook salmon and do lowkey couple-y things. It’s cute.

He quizzes her about how her family will react to him visiting for a hometown date. She admits they’ll be tough on him (because of her fairly recent divorce) but thinks they’ll come around once they see what he means to her.

Tayshia gets the rose. Cue a bedroom make-out session (first base only!!) to end the night. These two have nice, easy chemistry, but I still don’t see Tayshia making it to the end.

One-on-One: Caelynn

As per the rules of ~drama~, Miss North Carolina herself gets the next solo date of the week, so we (and Colton) can get her side of the story.

Colton takes Caelynn snowboarding, and she’s adorably nervous about it. He adorably gives her some pointers. It’s all pretty lowkey, once again, until he mentions his conversation with Tayshia.

Caelynn: I wouldn’t put myself through this emotional hell if I wanted a boyfriend at the end of this.

Caelynn gets very angry/defensive, which is a tad suspicious if I’m being honest.

I get the sense that Caelynn and Cassie may have said the things Tayshia reported back to Colton — but maybe they were just joking around? Who knows. I’d like to give everybody on this show the benefit of the doubt, but this is The Bachelor we’re talking about. 100% a portion of every season’s contestants are just there to eventually hawk FabFitFun subscription boxes on Instagram.

In the evening portion of the date, Caelynn reassures Colton and insists that she’s really there for him and totally ready to be engaged. She also confesses to Colton that she’s falling in love with him.

Caelynn gets the rose, and Colton returns the sentiment that he’s falling in love with her as well. The date wraps up with Brett Young giving the two a private concert.

Post-date, both with roses safely in hand, Caelynn finally confronts Tayshia.

The two have a largely surprisingly civil conversation, and it’s clear they just don’t see eye to eye. Caelynn is upset that Tayshia went to Colton with her concerns at all, but Tayshia is firm that she’s just looking out for Colton’s best interests.

This drama is fairly interesting because there isn’t a traditional, obvious villain here. I’m into it.

One-on-One: Hannah B.

The final solo outing of the week goes to good ol’ Hannah Beast — and it’s surprisingly fantastic? Like maybe the greatest moment of the week, if not the season as a whole.

Hannah B.: Thank the freakin’ lord!

Colton takes Hannah to go meet his family first. It seems sweet, but then you realize the real reason: He honestly doesn’t know how he feels about her, and he’s looking for a second opinion. Oops.

Colton’s mom makes conversation with Hannah B., and Hannah admits she told Colton she was falling for him but that he didn’t return the sentiment. You can practically see the “Ah” look of realization on Mama’s face when she hears that.

Meanwhile, Colton and his dad chat. His dad is very wise and says a lot of meaningful things that I’m only half-listening to because by this point it’s clear Hannah B. is a goner.

Rather than just send her off right then and there, Colton takes Hannah to the evening portion of the date. And let me just say: Hannah’s pink gown is iconic. An absolute look. The dress alone skyrockets her place in my ranking of this season’s ladies.

After allowing Hannah B. to chirp on about her growing feelings for him and basically lay her heart on the line, Colton drops the big old “but” on her.

Much like Demi, Hannah B. is fully blindsided by Colton abruptly dumping her. But in a wonderfully unexpected twist, Hannah B.’s exit is hella empowering.

HANNAH B for the Bachelorette #thebachelor #thebachelorette pic.twitter.com/PWIRqTq5pD

— D199P (@D199P) February 19, 2019

She’s sad and more than a little annoyed because Colton isn’t being clear about what he wants — and she’s right about that, he is being confusing. But most importantly, she knows she deserves love and she’s not about to let this unpleasant experience get her down.

Hannah B.: I will not allow myself to not feel chosen every single day. And I’ll wait ’til whenever that is.

PREACH, GIRL.

Before she leaves, Hannah B. echoes that Colton should “listen to people” about others’ intentions. Once again, Colton is shook.

And also: I look forward to seeing Hannah B. on Bachelor in Paradise, where hopefully someone will choose her every single day.

Group Date: Kirpa, Cassie, Heather, and Hannah G.

The group of remaining rose-less ladies take a really beautiful and super cool scenic old-timey train ride into the mountains.

Yet another twist occurs when Heather quickly takes Colton aside to tell him that it’s not fair to take him home to her family if she’s not 100% sure she’s ready for it. She chooses to leave voluntarily.

I feel bad for Colton, because this is the third (?) time this has happened this season. But I also love that Heather is being so genuine and taking charge of how she feels. Bon voyage, Heather — and see you in Paradise, maybe?

For some reason, Kirpa decides it’s absolutely essential to take this opportunity to echo Tayshia’s concerns about Cassie and Caelynn to Colton. I’m not sure why she thought it was a good idea to waste the last of her time with him pre-hometowns on that fool’s errand, but it is what it is.

Colton reports back to Cassie what’s being said about her, and much like Caelynn, Cassie is pissed.

Cassie gets emotional with Colton and then again later when she speaks wit Kirpa about the situation. The two bicker, and it’s basically a repeat of the Caelynn/Tayshia conversation — they’re just not seeing eye to eye, and Kirpa is sure she’s just looking out for Colton’s best interests, not just being a bitch for the sake of it.

Colton can’t make a decision yet, so they proceed to the latter half of the date with both roses still in play.

But then…

Hannah G. gets the first group date rose pretty quickly in the night portion — not surprising, given how long she’s been a frontrunner. She feels like home to him, and all that.

Also, she’s managed to steer almost entirely clear of the “red flags” drama, which I’m sure is a relief to Colton. No one is questioning her intentions, and she’s also not throwing stones at others.

After Hannah G. gets her rose, she heads back to the mansion so Colton can focus on the two remaining ladies. Cassie’s BFF Caelynn is, for whatever reason, perturbed at the thought that he might send Cassie home.

This… doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. If Caelynn is genuinely into Colton, wouldn’t she want the other women who he has a strong connection with to leave? Why would she want to keep Cassie in the running, knowing how Colton feels about her?

Anyway, Caelynn decides to take it upon herself to show up on the group date, find Colton, and give him “all the facts” before he makes his final rose decision.

This is basically unheard of in Bachelor history. And annoyingly, we don’t even get to see/find out what Caelynn told him — the producers leave that scene out, just cutting to Caelynn walking out of the room, silently gliding past Kirpa and Cassie.

Whatever she says to Colton does the trick, though, because he immediately comes out of the room and hands the rose to Cassie. Sorry, Kirpa. To her credit, she handles the moment like a champ and doesn’t betray any emotion until she’s comfortably in the limo getting the heck out of dodge.

So heading into hometown dates week we have Tayshia, Caelynn, Hannah G., and Cassie. At this point, my (still so far un-spoiled) money is on Cassie.

What did you think of this episode of The Bachelor? Will we ever find out why Colton jumps the fence? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.

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