Secrets, Lies, Medical Evacuation, Girls Called ‘Mean’

And for once, Zoe wasn’t entirely at the center of it, though she still had her moment in the spotlight. This week, though, someone else was infected with her “main character virus,” thinking that everything was all about her, bogarting time, stirring the pot, and basically ruining prom for everyone!

That’s right, kiddos, a 30-year-old man just took 13 women to prom!

Oh, are you trying to check our math there? We said 13 and we mean 13. But what about the fourteenth lucky lady? Did she fall off a building or something? Actually, that woman is still around … in a big way!

So let’s get to who isn’t, and why. You might be asking why we wouldn’t save this big dramatic moment for later in the story? It’s because there is no story.

Beverly was feeling sick. Beverly “will not be coming back to the house,” just before her scheduled One-on-One. The highest highs to out on her keister. And that’s about as much as we got on her surprise exit, which was … a choice.

Apparently, there’s only so much room for drama, and between Zoe getting in her feelings because she didn’t like how a Group Date went — after bogarting everyone’s time at the last one — and a new “villain” emerging, who has the time?

But seriously, we do hope she’s okay. According to Beverly herself on an appearance on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, she became suddenly brutally ill in the stomach over a 12-hour period. Ultimately, she wound up in the ER, where it was revealed she had appendicitis, though she said she never got the chance to explain any of that to Grant.

A day trader by trade … or is that day? … Grant invited the women into his world but not really at all with a ridiculous game in Bachelor Nation’s favorite classroom setting where the ladies were asked ridiculous questions like when their credit card was last declined and their most risqué purchase.

Let’s just say Alexe was not buying a plug for her household appliances or electronics. Ahem!

Meanwhile, Bailey got all strategic in this game where they earned Grant Bucks, with the winner being able to spend them during the evening portion of the game. She recognized that a comedian, Hannah Berner, and Shark Tank‘s Daniel Lubetzky were doling out the cash, so he mission was to protect them.

In other words, she got goofy with her answers, trying to impress Hannah, which didn’t sit well with Zoe, who’s more about playing with in the rules. If you ask a question, I will answer it to the best of my ability.

“I like rules and clear-cut answers, and it seemed like today it was more like maybe trying to be funny,” said Zoe in a confessional, looking as if she wouldn’t know funny if it bit her. Maybe that’s why her smile never reaches her eyes.

Bailey’s strategy worked, and she bought one of Grant’s t-shirts and dessert time with him for the evening portion, which was perhaps a little more creepy than strategic at that point. Why would you not get as much time as possible to strengthen a bond? Maybe he thinks you sniffing his shirt is … kinda weird.

Things seemed to be going great, but Zoe just couldn’t get out of her head and needed everyone to know it. “Everyone was having a great time, everyone was laughing,” said Parisa as all the girls agreed except for one.

“I was not,” Zoe interjected. “I was so uncomfortable today.”

And just like that, she was the main character, with the other women comforting her and telling her her answers were so “great.” But not everyone was buying it, with Sarafiena saying, “For her to be crying about not having enough time after she monopolized all the time with him on the last group date? I just think it was hilarious.”

“As I see everyone talking to Zoe, I’m just like, are we gonna do this again? It’s really annoying. It’s like, she wants this journey to be about her,” added Alli Jo.

And then dressgate happened, while Zoe was drowing her sorrows at the bar. Sarafiena made the comment, “That’s the shortest dress I’ve ever seen.” Within moments, Zoe was the first to ruin Grant’s night with a story about the other girls being so mean.

Do you think the producers force them to do this? It happens like clockwork every season.

Regardless, Zoe got the affirmation and attention she was so desperately craving, with Grant telling her just be herself even harder in the face of mean girls.

When Zoe didn’t name names, Grant called everyone out at the close of the night. “There’s been some rumors about people belittling and just making people feel uncomfortable in the house,” he told them. “We have to be kind to each other.”

“There are 12 women on this date today, and I am no detective, but I know it’s Zoe,” Juliana declared. Then, as the ladies tried to figure out who said something, she broke in, “Let’s, like, skip wasting the breath here. Zoe, did you have a conversation with him about it?”

“I’m allowed to chat whatever I want to chat,” Zoe replied, which translates to “yes.”

She then broke down at everyone again, saying they did “exactly what I expected you to do. Exactly. Every one of you,” before storming off and calling them “mean” and “not nice” and “not kind.”

Oh, and Parisa got the Group Date Rose. Yay. She got to enjoy it for about 0.5 seconds.

So everyone spent the next day crying while Carolina got to enjoy her first One-on-One date, setting the stage for the even more drama to come.

There’s not much to say about the date, which saw them take a private jet to Vegas and jump off a building before she opened up about her struggles with epilepsy. It was real and genuine and emotional and everything went great and she got a rose. But then Carolina slept on it.

The following day is when things got a little hectic after Beverly’s medical evacuation. Her One-on-One became a mini-Group Date where Grant invited Sarafiena, Dina, and Litia got to meet Lisa Vanderpump and play with dogs at her shelter.

And Carolina just could not handle that!

She was basically spiraling into jealousy, and then completely nosedived into despair and was ready to walk after Rose told her that she’d heard that when Grant was dancing with Carolina during the first Group Date last week, he was thinking about Rose.

Carolina sat with that and then spun out with that and then she mentally started preparing to pack up with that, so she decided she needed to go talk to Grant and become the second woman to ruin his night in one week, and also the second woman to not name names.

“It’s like I’m trying to spit game, I’m not here to do that,” Grant shot back at Carolina when she told him what she’d heard. “I’m here to find a wife and I’ve tried to approach things with honesty and I’ve tried to be respectful, so I wouldn’t sit here and tell somebody that and disrespect you like that. You know, if I was thinking of somebody else while I was dancing with you onstage, I would’ve been dancing with them.”

“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,” he said, then asking if he could start guessing names. He got through Bailey, Dina, and Litia before she shut him down.

But that was enough for him to figure out it was Rose, so he called her out. As he talked to her directly about it, we’ve never seen a person on any reality show be so small. Her gestures, her movements, she was trying to fade into the furniture.

“I thought that was something that I heard you say,” she said sheepishly. And she maintained that stance. Ultimately, she apologized to Grant and felt terrible and afraid for what was to come at the Rose Ceremony.

“I was just saying that there might be some surprises of people going home,” she said in a confessional, adding with a whisper, “And damn, I was talking about me.”

So she did say the thing Carolina said she said, but what really happened? Did Grant say the thing she swears she heard? Did she mishear him? If so, what did he say? Her conversation with Carolina was off-camera, but what about this moment with Grant?

The drama police probably demand we never know for sure, but that would be a pivotal reveal about Grant’s character, and how Rose could make that mistake.

Was it innocent? Did she misconstrue something said? Did she twist it inside her own head? Or is she playing everyone and she knows he never said anything like that? These questions and many others will be ignored because they don’t serve the narrative.

We also kind of liked Carolina again going to Grant — no one else really got any time at this prom-themed cocktail party, which was super cute and had some Golden Bachelorette alums in it — to chastise him for confronting everyone without giving her a heads up.

What is that? She brought it to him, he took it as a slam on his character and she wanted to continue to control that narrative? There’s that “main character virus,” and based on the teaser for next week’s episode, she’s going to get even more sick with it.

At the Rose Ceremony, Carolina’s drama didn’t jeopardize her, as she was one of the three women to get roses earlier in the night, along with the group date roses for Parisa and Litia, who got the evening portion of that second date to share more about her family.

In the end, Rose was made to sweat, but she did score the final rose at the Rose Ceremony, continuing her journey. Falling by the wayside was Grant Bucks winner Bailey, bold and outspoken Alli Jo, and compassionate and softspoken Chloie.

The Top 10 is revealed as The Bachelor starts moving international with next week’s episode, Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.