The endless wait is finally over for Bachelor Nation: at long last, Colton Underwood is going to jump the fence.
In fact, this is probably great news even for people who don’t watch The Bachelor. For months, previews have teased a scene in which our reigning Bachelor, fed up with the trappings of the show, leaps over a (very tall) fence to escape. It is a perfect Bachelor moment, in that it is a powerful tribute to both Underwood’s upper body strength and the overall off-the-rails nature of the show.
Now, it seems the big jump is actually going to happen. On Friday, Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss implied it was set to air on Monday’s episode when he tweeted, “#BachelorNation is ready for the @colton challenge! Let’s see who can scale a fence like our #TheBachelor.”
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#BachelorNation is ready for the @colton Challenge!!! Let’s see who can scale a fence like our #TheBachelor ...
— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) February 23, 2019
Although this could be thought of as a (potentially quite dangerous) way to continue teasing Bachelor fans, Fleiss appears to be telling the truth here. Underwood has confirmed that the Fence Jump happens during Hometowns week, and two preview clips released this week to E! News and People, respectively, reveal a lot of hometown visit drama (People’s clip also includes the jump, for what it’s worth).
As Underwood visits the families of the remaining contestants — Cassie, Caelynn, Hannah G., and Tayshia — things seem to get pretty emotional. In one moment, Underwood tells someone’s father he would like to marry their daughter, and, in another, he tears up and says he does not want to be anyone’s “backup plan.”
So what causes him to jump the fence? Bachelor previews can be misleading, so it may be helpful to turn instead to last week’s episode, in which Underwood was warned that Caelynn and Cassie are there for the “wrong” reasons (aka Instagram fame and becoming the next Bachelorette) and won’t actually want to get married. It is possible that one (or both) of those conflicts bubbles up enough to make Colton want out of the show.
In any case, we’re all just going to have to wait to watch to find out.