It finally happened, people! After what felt like a billion weeks of watching Colton Underwood's arms and legs do all kinds of things that were not "propelling him over any tall boundaries," the virginal romantic at last delivered the powerfully graceful fence jump moment in the season's penultimate episode. Now that it finally happened, though, fans are wondering what in the world will happen next. Thankfully, Underwood himself shared this shocking admission.
I was gone for a while and, in that moment, I quit. I didn’t want to be the Bachelor anymore.
To be sure, the already-taped finale and Women Tell All reunion special had made it clear that Colton Underwood did not permanently end his Bachelor tenure after leapfrogging the fence. (One wonders how any season would fare in general if the star quit just prior to the finale being filmed.) So there will indeed be some kind of an ending for Underwood, even if it's likely not with the woman he had the most feelings for.
For many fans, it was imperative for Colton Underwood to have a beyond-legitimate reason to make his grand fence jump, and Cassie Randolph suddenly breaking up with him during Fantasy Suites week in Portugal was imbued with just such legitimacy. Almost as surprising were Underwood's hardcore attempts to talk Randolph out of her decision to leave, which is usually a no-no on The Bachelor. Alas, she couldn't handle it anymore, and neither could he.
At that point, Underwood started making moves, including removing his microphone equipment, as he walked his way to what would eventually be THE fence. Then, with nary a gut-straining groan, he jumped the fence in a single bound, leaving host Chris Harrison in mild disbelief.
Underwood told THR that not long after that happened, he eventually had a talk with Harrison and decided that his impulsive actions would only be detrimental to the show and the remaining contestants.
The show goes on and I have a very important conversation with Chris in which I share with him that it’s not fair to myself and not fair to these women for me to quit and give up. But yeah — it gets good. I had to have some conversations to get to that point.
Personally, I'm always shocked and partially impressed whenever reality show contestants face tumultuous news and have the wherewithal to not just go berserk on the spot. I'm even more wowed when someone like Colton Underwood can hold on to his composure long enough to eventually make an athletic leap into a dark abyss.
The question on all fans' minds right now is: what's going to happen in the finale? Underwood's final pair of episodes have already been teased as going "off the rails," and it's easier now to see how things might go haywire for the doubled-up finale. Without the woman he seemingly truly did fall hard for, how will Underwood continue connecting with the final two women, Tayshia Adams and Hannah Godwin?
Common sense would say that he definitely won't be delivering a proposal to either of the two women, all things considered. Stranger things have happened, of course, but Colton Underwood pointed out that being on this show offers no guarantees, and that audiences saw how painful things got for him with Cassie Rudolph. In his words:
Just because you’re the Bachelor doesn’t mean you’re protected from heartbreak or you’re automatically guaranteed a relationship at the end of this. It caught me off guard and I fought for it with everything that I had. I throw out every unwritten rule of The Bachelor that there is — you’ve never seen a Bachelor say, 'Hey, it’s you,' when other women are still there. You see the fight, so it was tough; it was hard.
One thing is for sure, though. No matter what happens, at least we don't have to re-experience the mess that was Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s Bachelor finale, in which he broke up with the "winner" Becca Kufrin and proposed to the runner-up Lauren Burnham. Even if Cassie Rudolph returns and takes Underwood back, it won't be as bad as Arie's double-crossing.
The Bachelor's two-part finale airs on ABC on Monday, March 11, and Tuesday, March 12, at 8:00 p.m. ET.
