With The Bachelor‘s Season 29 premiere in the rearview, Episode 2 saw 31-year-old Grant Ellis and his 18 remaining women embark on eventful first dates. Though Grant ended the week by saying goodbye to four more women, he also felt more hopeful than ever that his future wife was along for the ride.
The Bachelor Season 29, Week 2 featured two super competitive group dates, one romantic one-on-one date, and several special guests — from singer Mario to sports anchor Ashley Brewer. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the episode also delivered the first major cocktail party feuds of the season and set the stage for lots more drama to come. Yikes!
Wondering how Grant Ellis’ first one-on-one date with first impression rose winner Alexe Godin went? Curious who snagged Grant’s two group date roses? Want to know who’s being portrayed as an early Season 29 villain? Or just eager to learn who went home during Week 2 of The Bachelor? We’ve got you covered.
Decider’s The Bachelor Season 29, Episode 2 recap breaks down all the highs, lows, feuds, and romance in the February 3 episode.
The Bachelor Group Date 1 Recap: Get Your Head In The Game
After toasting mimosas to their wishes being “Grant-ed,” the 18 remaining Season 29 contestants gathered ’round the first first date card of the season and awaited their fate. Ten women — Beverly, Sarafiena, Alli Jo, Natalie, Parisa, Vicky, Chloie, Zoe, Juliana, and Allyshia — were invited to “shoot their shot” with Grant and headed to an indoor court to meet his first love: basketball.
Fully in his element, Grant geared up for the most important game of his life — but first, he welcomed some kids to the court to help his ladies get warmed up for a slam dunk competition and a five on five game. It was all fun and games until Zoe forfeited her shot, instead using her time to steal Grant away to the roof for some one-on-one conversation.
As predicted, the move didn’t sit well with the other girls, but before anyone could address the move, Jesse Palmer blew an air horn and split the girls into teams — Grant Slam (yellow team) and Grant Prize (purple team) — for an unexpectedly heated game. Sports anchor Ashley Brewer helped choose which girl would be crowned MVP and take home Grant’s letterman jacket. The purple team, aka the tall girls (Chloie, Parisa, Natalie, Zoe, and Beverly), emerged victorious in an 18:2 win, and despite several girls losing all their nails, Chloie won MVP, got a kiss, and even snagged some alone time with Grant.
The competitive spirit continued into the night, with Alli Jo calling Zoe out for stealing Grant away from the group date. The consensus among the group was that Zoe pulled a disrespectful “wrong place, wrong time” move, but Zoe argued the point of the date was to “shoot your shot,” so she shot hers. As Grant got to know the women better, tension between Alli Jo and Zoe was palpable. Each woman stole Grant away from the other to make a statement, but their extra time didn’t help them land the rose.
Who Got The Group Date Rose? The day was also about Grant seeing how well the women interacted with children, so he gave the rose to Natalie, a fan-favorite with the kids, who he felt would make a great wife and mother.
Grant Ellis and Alexe Godin‘s One-On-One Date Recap: The Mallpisode
Bachelor Nation has to have some The O.C. fans in it, and to those good people, I’m here to say that Grant and Alexe’s first date was giving Season 2, Episode 15, “The Mallpisode.”
After hours at LA’s Beverly Center, Grant set up a rose petal path throughout the shopping center to guide Alexe to a dream middle school mall date. The two rode electric animal scooters, tried on clothes, jumped on (and broke) a display bed, made ice cream sundaes, commandeered the loudspeaker, played ping pong, and more. As the promos teased, Grant also played piano for Alexe and sang and extremely catchy original song he claimed he made up on the spot.
After “the sweetest moment ever,” the two ended their romantic date with a deep chat and a slow dance. Alexe said she wasn’t used dating emotional men and had been looking for someone as romantic and attentive as Grant. He opened up a bit about how his relationship with his dad shaped the man he became. And she revealed she “didn’t have a traditional family,” explaining she was raised by her grandparents, didn’t see her dad for 17 years, and is estranged from her mother. “I think that’s why it’s so important, in a sense, to me to have a family, because I know who I want to be as a mom, and how I want to be as a mom,” Alexe said, telling cameras, “It also makes me feel much better that Grant does not have the picture-perfect life, and that we can bond over that and we can share that experience.”
Did Alexe Get The One-On-One Date Rose? You bet! After the next-level mall date, Grant felt “over the moon” and loved that Alexe was serious about the future, while still being able to embrace her inner child.
The Bachelor Group Date 2 Recap: Let Grant Love You
Next stop? The Bellwether to get serenaded by R&B singer Mario! For Grant’s second group date, he invited seven girls — Bailey, Carolina, Dina, Ella, Litia, Rebekah, and Rose — to embrace his love of music in a songwriting, singing, and dancing competition. Mario helped Grant judge, along with choreographer and Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin, who showed the girls some moves. To help calm nerves, Grant even got up on stage first and gave a performance of his own!
After “The Bachstreet Girls” performed as a group, each contestant strutted her stuff in front of Grant and a live audience. In the end, Carolina was crowned the winner, but when she and Grant made out in front of everyone as Mario serenaded them, the other girls weren’t pleased. At happy hour, the women couldn’t hide how disheartened they were and finally confronted Carolina about her and Grant’s “awkward” PDA. Grant could tell that the vibes were off, so he spent the majority of his night checking in with the women and assuring each of them he cared deeply.
Throughout the night, Litia seemed to get deepest with Grant and make the biggest effort to move beyond the group date drama. She even confronted him about their Night 1 chat, in which he said she must not get told no a lot because she’s so beautiful. Litia let Grant know that she’s told no all the time and called the comment “triggering” because her last 3.5-year relationship ended because of a “no.” Grant apologized for coming off incorrectly, and the two bonded over their shared dreams of getting married and having kids.
Who Got The Group Date Rose? At the end of the night, Grant gave his second group date rose to Litia, whose honesty and vulnerability was something he’d been missing in life.
Curious who else got roses and who went home Episode 2? Keep on reading, the episode’s almost over!’ almost over!
Who Went Home On The Bachelor Season 29, Episode 2? Rose Ceremony Recap:
So who got the rest of Grant’s Episode 2 roses? And who went home? The Season 29 lead gave his first and final rose ceremony roses to Juliana and Chloie respectively. Here are the women who went home during The Bachelor Season 29, Episode 2:
- Allyshia, 29, an interior designer from Tampa, Florida
- Ella, 25, a luxury travel host from Los Angeles, California
- Rebekah, 31, an ICU nurse from Dallas, Texas
- Vicky, 28, a nightclub server from Las Vegas, Nevada
See you next week for another recap after The Bachelor Season 29, Episode 3 airs Monday, February 10 from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. ET on ABC. In the meantime, be sure to read our interview with Grant Ellis for more exciting Bachelor insights.
