‘The Bachelor’ Season 27 “Women Tell All” Recap: 11 Juiciest Takeaways

Before a Fantasy Suite episode Bachelor host Jesse Palmer promises is “so shocking, so explosive, and so emotional that it will have all of America talking,” a group of eliminated contestants from Zach Shallcross’ Season 27 gathered in front of a live studio audience for the franchise’s annual “Women Tell All” event.

Tuesday night’s two-hour special welcomed back contestants whose names you certainly won’t remember, notorious pot-stirrers Christina Mandrell and Brooklyn Willie, Bachelor Nation sweethearts Jess Girod and Charity Lawson, and more familiar faces. The intense evening of conversation — which ranged from hilarious and spicy to educational and emotional — ended with an appearance from Shallcross himself and Palmer announcing the next star of The Bachelorette.

The night was full of surprises, tough conversations, delightful bloopers, and more, but if you’re looking for recap of The Bachelor Season 27’s “Women Tell All,” we’ve got you covered. Enjoy 11 of the juiciest takeaways from the event below, but be mindful of spoilers ahead.

1. Christina Mandrell Admits She Could Have STFU

   Remember Christina Mandrell, the 26-year-old content creator and mother from Nashville, Tennessee, who snagged Shallcross’ first one-on-one date and met his fam? Her future with Shallcross looked bright, but after Mandrell kept instigating drama Shallcross sent her packing in Episode 3. Before Mandrell left the mansion she butted heads with Brooklyn Willie and made Charity Lawson cry after receiving a rose. At “Women Tell All,” the ladies shared their feelings about Mandrell’s incessant one-on-one bragging and she responded with the following: “Being told that you’re making people feel uncomfortable when you’ve never been told that before, what that does to my mind is — I probably could have shut the fuck up a little more — but what my mind wanted to do was do more to make sure people understand my intentions and that I am being nice. I didn’t know what to do and it felt like everything I did was the wrong thing, and it was hard. Thank you for letting me know cause I can take all of that and be better hopefully in the future.” (We’re not sure Willie has forgiven her, which seems to be a common theme throughout the night.)

3. Anastasia Keramidas Talks Social Media Followers And Squashes Boyfriend Rumors

   The drama followed the women to the Bahamas, where Anastasia Keramidas was called out for craving Instagram followers from her run on the show. When Shallcross confronted her, she claimed she was “answering questions and being transparent” about her job, and during “Women Tell All” she stuck by that defense. After someone claimed they had “receipts” to prove Keramidas was solely on the show as “a business opportunity,” Cat took things a step further and accused her of having a boyfriend while filming, too.

   “You called him in the Bahamas when you got your phone back,” Cat claimed. “The guy with the dog! The guy who had your dog on his Instagram.” After Palmer intervened, Keramidas claimed, “I did not have a boyfriend. I still don’t have a boyfriend. I never dated that person. I can show you the receipts of when those photos were taken. They were taken the week before I came here when I was at my friend’s wedding and he was there because he lives in Seattle.”

4. Rehashing The Bahamas Drama

   Though Keramidas mostly squashed the boyfriend rumors, she was still in the hot seat after Kylee Russell rehashed the conflict between the two in the Bahamas, when Keramidas told everyone Russell was trying to physically fight her after a casual comment was made on their group date. “I was your roommate in the Bahamas. You know I wasn’t an aggressive person at all,” Russell explained, which inspired Genevie Mayo to jump to Russell’s defense. “Someone that looks like Mercedes, Kylee, Charity, my girl Aly over there, black women in general — every day we deal with the stereotype of being aggressive people and we deal with these very harsh micro-aggressions, which for anyone who doesn’t know are extremely subtle, very everyday interactions and behaviors that communicate bias towards historically marginalized groups of people,” Mayo said. “And it is insane that you would — knowing Kylee — use that and try to propel that stereotype. You could have let that go. And instead you went around to the whole group date and made it a thing that it wasn’t.” Keramidas apologized to Russell, and Russell said she hopes she’s learning.

5. “If The Shoe Fits, Lace That Bitch Up” Part 2

   As Palmer said, the drama didn’t end in the Bahamas either. Willie and Kat Izzo rehashed their confrontation after Izzo stole Shallcross away for a kiss ahead of Lawson’s one-on-one date in Estonia. WIllie’s eyebrow and facial reactions were working overtime during “Women Tell All,” and as the two tried to share their points of view, Willie repeated her famous line: “If the shoe fits, lace that bitch up.”

6. The Bachelor Didn’t Dull Jess “Glitter” Girod’s Sparkle

   Jess Girod chatted about her unexpected exit in Episode 6 with both Palmer and Shallcross during the evening and got a bit more closure after the emotional breakup. She reminded Bachelor Nation that “anyone that wants to buy glitter should never let anyone dull your sparkle,” and Shallcross assured her that their disconnect was “definitely not the sparkles. Love the sparkles.”

7. Greer Blitzer Apologizes For Defending Blackface

   As Season 27 played out, Bachelor Nation uncovered old social media posts from Blitzer that showed her defending a fellow classmate who posed in Blackface. During “Women Tell All,” she addressed the controversy with Palmer, who said “The truth is as a franchise we’ve done a very poor job in the past of addressing serious topics head on, and we’re not gonna miss that opportunity here tonight.”

   “What I failed to mention in my apology was that what happened was racist. It’s not about the intent. It’s about the impact. And this acquaintance of mine that I knew performing blackface was racist. Me defending it was racist. My ignorance was racist,” Blitzer said. “And I’m just so ashamed. I’m just deeply sorry that I hurt the black community. I can’t go back in time. All I can do is try to be better now and try to do better in my future.”

   Both Blitzer and Palmer shared that they met with Dr. Kira Banks — a professor and experienced diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant — who attended the “Women Tell All” taping and shared some thoughts of her own. “It’s important to name and give voice when these sort of issues come up, when racism comes up to be willing to name it. And Genevie modeled that beautifully earlier tonight, right? When we see something, name it,” Banks said. “The reality is we can’t nice our way out of racism. So we can say the right thing but what are we really gonna do? What actions are we going to take? And so that’s why it’s really important not to just be performative but to educate ourselves, to be willing to understand the history behind actions, and then be willing to do something different.”

8. The Bachelor Brought Kat And Her Mom Together

   After Izzo spoke on the more dramatic parts of the Bachelor experience, she told Palmer an unexpected positive she took away from the show. On Izzo’s one-on-one in the Bahamas, she opened up to Shallcross about her and her mother’s strained relationship, but during “Women Tell All” she tearfully said, “This has impacted my family more than I thought it would. I have a mother/daughter relationship with my mom now because of it. My whole family just came together through this and most importantly my mom and I can start building like a healthy relationship and I’m so grateful and really happy.”

9. Anastasia Gave Aly Kissing Lessons

   Oh, glorious bloopers. We love you. Remember in London when Aly Jacobs and Shallcross smooched oranges over FaceTime? Yeah, turns out she did that with Keramidas first. In never-before-seen footage we saw Anastasia giving Aly kissing lessons in front of the mansion with the help of some oranges. The verdict? “It was tasty.”

10. Zach Thought Mulled Wine Was Called “Mold” Wine

    Thanks to bloopers, we also know that Shallcross kept calling mulled wine “MOLD” wine with extreme confidence on a date until a producer sat him down and told him the wine wasn’t moldy, it was mulled. This guy.

11. “Sex Week” Will Shake Bachelor Nation To Its Core

    I know we’ve heard it before, but Palmer assures us that next week’s Fantasy Suite episode of The Bachelor (or as Shallcross calls it, “Sex Week”) will be one of the most dramatic episodes ever. From the preview, it looks like Shallcross sets a “no sex of any kind” rule with all three women ahead of overnight dates, then breaks that rule…but not with all three women. Yikes. In clips aired at the end of “Women Tell All” we see Gabi, Kaity, and Ariel all sobbing, and Shallcross cries to the camera, “That was a beautiful moment. Feels like it was robbed.”

12. And The Next Bachelorette Is…

    After Lawson got a chance to confront Shallcross about their emotional breakup in Episode 8, Palmer sent her and all of the returning women to their dressing rooms, promising that one woman’s life was about to change forever. Then, Decider’s Bachelorette casting dreams came true when Palmer knocked on Lawson’s door and surprised her with news that he wanted her to be the next Bachelorette. “It’s a yes! Absolutely! 100%!” she said. “I can’t wait to show little girls that look like me being in a position like this is possible,” she said. “I know that I’ll be making a lot of people proud.”

New episode of The Bachelor premiere on Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Episodes are available for next-day streaming on Hulu.