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Arie Made A Surprising Decision On 'The Bachelor' This Week

by Anna Rose Iovine

Now's the time on The Bachelor where Arie has to start making tough decisions as to whom to eliminate. On Monday night, he said goodbye to Chelsea, the single mother. So why did Arie send Chelsea home on The Bachelor? He felt a strong connection with her earlier this season; he actually gave her the first impression rose in the premiere. Historically, the contestant who gets that rose tends to stay for a pretty long time. Rachel Lindsay got the rose during Nick Viall's season, and she ended up coming in third; Bryan got it during Rachel's and he won. So what happened with Chelsea?

I'm going to admit, I didn't like Chelsea at first. In the premiere episode she seemed clearly not here to make friends; she "stole" Arie twice, while other contestants didn't get a chance to talk to him at all. This made me believe she was going to become this season's "villain," aka the contestant who gets a negative edit by the producers in order to pinpoint who the viewers should love to hate. Arie liked how mysterious Chelsea was in that first encounter. She didn't reveal she was a mother, and instead chose to not reveal a lot of information up front.

As the season went on, though, I warmed up to Chelsea (especially after it became clear that Krystal was the villain all along). She actually has a pretty harrowing story, including a stressful custody battle for her son, Sammy. During a one-on-one date, Chelsea opened up to Arie about her ex, and he doesn't seem like a great guy. Ultimately, Chelsea's just a single mother who wants to find love and a father for her son, and no one can hate on that. Arie seemed to be into her then, as he awarded her the solo date rose.

On Monday night's episode, though, something apparently changed. There was really no on-screen time between the two, but at the end of the episode Arie chose not to give her the rose. The final rose of the night went to Becca (not to be confused with Bekah), leaving both Chelsea and Jenna to go home. Chelsea and Arie didn't seem to have much of a goodbye, either. In a confessional Chelsea expressed how sad she was, but that was it.

Honestly? I don't think anything major happened for Arie to make his decision. Ultimately, I think he felt a stronger connection with the other women, such as Bekah and Jaqueline. It's getting down to the wire and he's going to have to let go women that he does like, just doesn't see a future with. This is surprising, though, considering she got the first impression rose... but I guess when it came down to it, Arie didn't feel like he could propose to Chelsea. Like I said, I actually started to like her as she opened up more, but this is what has to happen on The Bachelor.

I'm not worried about Chelsea, though. She honestly seems like a badass and a great mother, and I'm sure she'll find love — especially now that America knows who she is. I hope she comes back for the Women Tell All and After the Finale Rose. Could it be possible that she comes back to Bachelor in Paradise? Another single mom (at the time), Amanda, went on Paradise, so maybe Chelsea will follow in her footsteps.

For the time being, though, Bachelor Nation can take another look a their brackets and see who's left standing on the show. Arie's only going to make more difficult decisions from here on out, and I'm excited to see what they'll be.

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