SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “The Bachelor: The Women Tell All,” now streaming on Hulu.
“The Women Tell All” has traditionally been a chance for “The Bachelor”s eliminated contestants to reflect on the season and hash it out after failing to receive the final rose. And this latest installment was indeed packed with such moments — particularly with one divisive contestant — including an emotional walkout, social media receipts and the return of one fan-favorite llama. This reporter attended the taping on March 1, which ran from 1-6:30 p.m. PT (including opportunities for brief interviews – with snacks!).
Fifteen of the 25 total contestants competing for Grant Ellis‘ affections — minus the final trio of Zoe McGrady, Litia Garr and Juliana Pasquarosa — reunited with host Jesse Palmer and an audience of Bachelor Nation fans. Perhaps to the surprise of no one, Carolina Quixano was the most vocal contestant at the reunion.
Carolina, who was eliminated in Episode 5, has been a “love or hate her” contestant all season, and she immediately made waves at the taping with a blue jacket that featured quotes about her taken from both the show and the internet writ large throughout the season. The jacket was emblazoned with the line,” “I’m crazy and evil.” During the episode, Carolina took a defensive posture, though, saying, “No matter what I did, everything was a problem.”
While Carolina and Dina Lupancu started off as friends, with Dina even defending Carolina in Episode 4 after she was concerned about only getting one date with Grant, things got tense in Episode 5 when Carolina made enemies with the women after continually complaining about not having enough time with Grant. Dina came into “The Women Tell All” with some matters to correct.
“I think it was important to say that, actually in Madrid, I stood up for [Carolina] in front of Grant,” Dina told Variety in an interview during the taping. “And so really, I’m the reason why she even made it to Scotland. I’m glad that I got that out there and told her and the audience members what actually went down, because it wasn’t shown.”
Ahead of the release of Episode 5, Dina captioned a TikTok post with: “When you defend the one person nobody else would… just to get played the next week.” Carolina responded with the caption: “Seeing someone use this sound as if I don’t have screenshots of our conversation as evidence.” While the social media drama usually stays off the air, “The Women Tell All” surprisingly pulled these posts up to get reactions from the women.
After the social media posts were put on display during the show — and Dina accused Carolina of deflecting accountability — Carolina began crying and had to step out of the taping entirely to take a moment for herself.
Sarafiena Watkins, who was also eliminated in Episode 5, explained that everyone was open to hearing Carolina out going into the reunion. But that spirit wasn’t reciprocated, she says. “Unfortunately, I don’t think she was open back, which sucks because at the end of the day, the experience is over,” Sarafiena said. “We’ve moved on from that and now it’s just like, why can’t we be friends?”
For the women who got chosen for the hot seat, reliving their memories of falling in love with Grant all the way until their elimination in front of a huge audience — and the rest of the cast — came with heavy emotions. And while the episode started off with only the women, the Bachelor himself, as always, made an appearance.
“It’s so funny, because I thought that I was completely over it and had moved on and healed from it and everything was all good,” Dina said. “But then as soon as I came back, and then I saw Grant, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I felt it all over again and just felt heavy on my heart to say something.”
But of course, no “The Women Tell All” episode for this season would be complete without the return of the fan favorite “no drama” llama named Linda, who completely took contestant Alexe Godin by surprise after getting brought out during her hot seat segment. As fans may recall, Alexe first brought Linda onto the show in Episode 1, winning her the season’s first impression rose.
As opposed to previous “Women Tell All” tapings, none of these contestants are competing to be the Bachelorette — ABC and Warner Bros. Television have already confirmed that there will be no new season of “The Bachelorette” premiering later this spring. Bachelor Nation, however, will have “Bachelor in Paradise” to look forward to this summer for the first time since it aired in fall 2023 during the dual strikes. And the much-anticipated “Bachelor” finale — when viewers will see who will get Grant’s final rose — will air on March 24.
