Exclusive Interview
Jesse Palmer Teases Grant Ellis’ ‘Bachelor’ Ending & Why He ‘Certainly Won’t Forget’ It
It’s been four years since Jesse Palmer took over as host of Bachelor Nation, and the franchise is continuing to surprise him. Joey Graziadei‘s Season 28 The Bachelor finale was fairly unprecedented — the final two women rode to the rose ceremony together and runner-up Daisy Kent ended things with the lead before he could break up with her — but it looks like Season 29 will be even more shocking.
Previews have teased that Grant Ellis has a very tough time making his final decision, and Palmer tells Swooon about the “drama of that moment.”
“I think that this is a finale that I’ve never seen and certainly won’t forget,” he admits. “I’m always online and interacting with fans and talking to fans about who they think it’s going to be in the end, and I’m curious to see what the fans’ reaction will be this season because I think it’s going to be pretty apparent that Grant’s really, really torn as he progresses throughout.”
Palmer starred on The Bachelor himself in 2004 and is very familiar with the last few seasons due to his time as a host. “I think oftentimes the leads have a pretty strong lean on [who they’re going to pick], even going into the final week, let alone the last day,” he points out. “But Grant was really on the fence. That wasn’t television. That was real. It’s going to be interesting to watch it back because there’s so much tension on that day. I’ll never forget it.”
Last month, Ellis told Swooon about what was really going on inside his head before that final rose ceremony. While Ellis admitted to being in love with both women, he ultimately knew who he wanted to pick, but struggled with the idea of breaking the other person’s heart. “There were several factors that came into play, but I definitely knew what I wanted to do. It’s just building up to doing it and making that decision,” he explained. “In sports, they call it crunch time. It was crunch time, and you have to make a decision. You have two amazing women with amazing qualities and to go ahead and let somebody down is the hard part.”
-Reporting by Avery Thompson
The Bachelor, Mondays, 8/7c, ABC
