Well, it finally happened, Bachelor Nation: Colton Underwood jumped that freakin' fence on The Bachelor. As expected, the whole situation was pretty dramatic. Let's dive in (or should I say jump in), shall we?
Spoilers for The Bachelor ahead!
Chris Harrison has been teasing one of "the most dramatic moments in Bachelor history" ever since Colton's season premiered in early January. Thanks to a video preview featuring footage from throughout his time as the reality show's leading man, which was released on the night of season 23's premiere, we've known that at some point near the end of the season, the 27-year-old former NFL player would make a break for it. During the March 4 episode, we got to see it all go down.
Given the high-pressure environment of the show, we can't blame Colton for his heightened emotions (and hypersensitivity) in this episode, which saw him needing to make a big decision about the final three women left in the competition following their hometown dates and his elimination of Caelynn in the previous episode. Things were even more complicated considering the fathers of all of Colton's contestants were openly skeptical of his motives in the last episode, which had Colton feeling confused about front-runner Cassie Randolph. All of this made for one seriously potent combination of drama, confessions of love, and a fence vault that would make any dog at Westminster proud.
After a surprise visit from her father in her hotel room, Cassie felt more confused than ever about her feelings for Colton. Although he tried to help her see more clearly, all her father really did was muddy the waters for Cassie, which we know since she repeats "I don't know" about 6 trillion times over the course of the episode. But by the end of their visit, which was just before she was supposed to go on her overnight date with Colton, she came to a decision, telling the camera, "I have to send myself home tonight."
Meanwhile, Colton was busy telling the camera, "Cassie is the one. . . . My heart is complete when I'm with Cassie." So, uh, yeah — once Cassie arrived at his villa, things got very cringey, very fast.
"He talked to me about how I was feeling, and how big this whole thing is," Cassie explains of her dad's visit, as Colton looks on, shell-shocked. "He told me about my mom and him and their kind of love, and how he never had any kind of doubts about it. She never had any doubts about it, either. I don't know, I just . . . I would hate to see you leave here without what you came here for."
Colton, realizing he was about to lose the woman he's in love with, said, "If it's not with the person who has the most potential, it's not worth it." That swayed Cassie for all of one second, which Colton took as a sign to push on, telling her, "I care for you. I love you. I want it to be you at the end of this." Whoa. Unfortunately Cassie still wasn't feeling it, which she attempted to make clear with a rambling response:
"I want you to have what you want, too, you know? I love you so much. So much. But I couldn't, after today . . . I'm not in love, you know what I mean? I don't know why today I'm not . . . I feel like I'm having doubts about it."
At this point, Colton asks her point blank if she came to the date with the intention of voluntarily leaving the competition. "Mhmm. Not because I don't care about you so much. But because I don't know if I can get there," she says. "I wonder if I would've been sure by now. I don't know. I don't understand."
She then gets up and leaves to go cry a few feet off the villa's porch — side note: did you notice all the fedoras hanging on the wall of the villa?! There were, like, at least 10?! — after saying "I don't know" about a million more times (as well as "I can't" and "I'm so confused"). The pair hug it out, and Cassie tells him she wants him to find someone who is "insanely in love with" him and that she needs to go. Colton responds by saying that he's going to continue fighting for her. And then Cassie zooms off into the night in the usual black SUV, sobbing about her choice.
And what does Colton do? HE JUMPS THAT FENCE, PEOPLE.
Distraught, crying, and not in the mood to talk to the cameras, Colton gets the hell out of there, saying, "I'm f*cking done." It's understandable, given the situation, but now Bachelor Nation is obviously desperate to know more since the episode ends on that cliffhanger.
When Entertainment Tonight asked Colton how long he was gone after jumping the fence back in January, he said, "I was gone for a while. In that moment, and the feelings I was feeling, I left the show. I just needed time to myself."
No matter what ends up happening, Colton's fence jump will go down as one of The Bachelor's most dramatic moments ever. (Yes, Chris Harrison, I'm stealing your line.) See how fans are reacting to it all, ahead.
