Bachelor Grant Ellis and finalists Juliana Pasquarosa (left) and Litia Garr. Photo:
Disney/Matt Sayles
Grant Ellis has narrowed down his pool of 25 suitors to just two: Litia Garr and Juliana Pasquarosa.
In the March 24 finale of The Bachelor, the day trader, 31, will pick a final rose recipient and possibly walk away with a fiancée.
He most recently eliminated Zoe McGrady after Fantasy Suites, claiming that they “weren’t in a place to get married.”
Despite knowing that, Grant didn’t have any idea who he wanted to propose to following overnights at Secrets Tides Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. “I’m freaking out and I’m about to make the biggest decision of my life,” he said in the March 17 episode. “I’m torn between two amazing women, you know? And I don’t know who my future wife is going to be yet. I’ve never been this indecisive in my life.”
The former basketball pro previously told PEOPLE he “led with my heart” when making decisions throughout his season, during which he learned that he can be “an empath.”
“The journey was a lot harder than what I thought it was going to be,” he admitted. “Everybody’s different, but I’m somebody who’s emotional, and like I said, I think that’s a strength for me. But in this situation where you’re fully invested into different people, it becomes a lot. So yeah, from here on out, I’m a one-woman man.”
Keep reading to find out what unfolded during the finale of The Bachelor season 29.
(Note: the most recent updates appear at the top, so scroll all the way down to start from the beginning of the show.)
Copy The Link To This Blog Post Grant Ellis and Juliana on ‘The Bachelor’ season 29. Anne Marie Fox/Disney
After introducing Juliana to his family, Grant told her, “I’ve been waiting to tell you that I do love. And after today I can feel that, you know? And there’s no pressure on you.”
Still, Juliana shared that she felt the same way. “For so long I’ve debated on just like, what it would mean to actually know that I love you,” she said to Grant. “And I think I’m finally realizing after meeting your family, it’s not like one in particular moment that I’m gonna … just gonna hit me. I think I’ve known that I love you too and I want it to be you and I at the end of this. I love you, too.”
Grant told the cameras that Juliana “saying it back, it makes me feel special.”
Copy The Link To This Blog Post Before introducing Juliana to his loved ones, Grant told the cameras he needed to “see if she’s truly ready for love.” Meanwhile, Juliana worried that she hadn’t said “I love you” to Grant yet and whether she’d be able to get there.
Renee told Juliana she planned to ask her “some hard questions,” including, “Do you love my son?”
“Grant and I have not told each other we love each other,” Juliana confessed to Renee. “I’ve been kind of holding back a little bit in that sense just because what that means.”
Renee questioned how Juliana knows she can get there with Grant. “An engagement means forever to me,” Juliana assured. “Love means forever to me. He is truly somebody that I can see myself being in love with and spending the rest of eternity with.”
Renee brought up to her son that she felt concerned about him and Juliana not saying “I love you” yet.
“It’s no fault to her. You know?” Grant said. “I think that it’s hard to say that you love somebody when there’s somebody else in the picture.”
Still, Renee said, “If she doesn’t tell you she loves you, I am asking you to walk away from that.”
Copy The Link To This Blog Post While speaking to his dad, Grant expressed that he and Litia had different timelines regarding having kids.
“She wants to have children right away,” Grant told Robert, adding that he saw himself traveling and enjoying life with his partner for the next three to four years.
But Robert assured Grant that it would work out if they loved each other. “When you love someone, you’ll be able to do all those things as long as you’re both happy,” Robert said to Grant.
That made Grant feel better about the situation, and he left the family meeting feeling like “this is something I can get used to” in terms of Litia fitting in with his parents and sister.
When Grant and Litia spoke privately afterwards, the New Jersey native reiterated to Litia that he loved her — and she returned the sentiment.
“I just know with you,” Litia said to Grant. “And yeah, I just love you.”
Copy The Link To This Blog Post Grant said he could see Litia being his wife before introducing her to his mom Renee, dad Robert and sister Taylor. He also noted that his family gathering in the Dominican Republic to meet his final suitors marked the first time in “almost a decade” that his family came together since his parents divorced.
“You guys look so good together!” Robert said to Grant and Litia when he met them.
Renee said in a confessional interview that she could “sense the synergy” between Litia and Grant.
Litia told Renee that she had no doubts about accepting a proposal from Grant and suggested that she and the Bachelor start their lives “in a neutral place where it’s new for both of us” should they end up together.
“I would be very happy with Litia,” Renee told the cameras. “She would make a great daughter-in-law.”
Copy The Link To This Blog Post Host Jesse Palmer kicked off the live show in the studio in Los Angeles on March 24 by questioning whether Grant will leave his season “alone and heartbroken.” “There has never been a Bachelor who has been more torn over the two final women at the end,” Jesse said. “And when I mean the end, I mean the very end. This is going to be an emotional and a historic conclusion.”
Copy The Link To This Blog Post Hours ahead of The Bachelor finale kicking off on Monday, March 24, ABC posted a teaser showing Grant struggling to choose between Juliana and Litia on the network’s Instagram account.
“It’s supposed to be the happiest day of my life, and my emotions are just everywhere,” Grant says in the preview. “I don’t know how you look at somebody that you really love and tell them that you can’t be with them. It’s impossible.”
