What To Know Before ‘The Bachelor’ Finale Airs

It’s almost time for the Season 27 finale of “The Bachelor.”

After saying goodbye to 28 contestants, leading man Zach Shallcross is set to hand out his final rose on the next episode of the love-match series. But before he does, there’s still time for fans of the franchise to make sure they ready for the big event.

Here’s everything to know before finale night.

Where it all began

The premiere episode of the season kicked off as “The Bachelor” always does, with a bevy of single women voicing their eagerness to get to know, fall in love with and possible marry a man they’ve never even met.

And Shallcross, a 26-year-old tech exec from Anaheim Hills, California, was just as excited about his odds with the 30 strangers who pulled up to the show’s mansion to meet him.

“Do I deserve this?” Shallcross pondered. “I don’t know.”

After earning the nickname “Zach the Snack” from the contestants, Shallcross then narrowed the dating field down to 20 and handed his “first impression” rose to Greer Blitzer, a 24-year-old who presented him with a hot cup of coffee when they met.

The season’s biggest controversy

Speaking of Blitzer, she soon held another distinction—the contestant to bring the biggest controversy to the series this season.

Old tweets unearthed by a Reddit user after the cast of contestants was first announced revealed that Blitzer had once defended a friend who’d worn blackface. The since-deleted tweets went viral after the premiere.

Blitzer, who went on to be eliminated in week seven of the competition, finally spoke the controversy during the March 14 “Women Tell All” episode.

“I’ve been wanting to address this,” she told host Jesse Palmer. “I don’t want to sweep it under the rug. What happened was racist. It’s not about the intent. It’s about the impact.”

She added, “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.”

The most outrageous moment

While the series hit a mid-season lull as Shallcross went on to whittle down his options rose-by-rose, he found a way to really liven things up again when it came time for the Fantasy Suite dates.

MORE FROM FORBES‘Bachelor’ Zach Shallcross Breaks His No-Sex Pledge And Picks His Final TwoBy Ree Hines

Without any prompting, Shallcross decided the only way to go through with the one-on-one dates before choosing his true love was to take sex “off the table.” That’s what he told host Palmer, as well as two of his three Fantasy Suite partners, Ariel Frenkel and Gabi Elnicki.

But after giving Elnicki his no-sex speech, he was quick to flip-flip on his pledge and shared an intimate evening with her.

Then, in one of the cringiest Fantasy Suite moves in the history of the show, he decided to recap his plan, his reversal and issue an odd apology to the one person who didn’t want to hear any of it: Kaity Biggar, who was left weeping.

The finalists

Alas, it was Frenkel who was sent home after all of that drama, leaving Elnicki and Biggar holding the roses and facing off in the final week.

What to expect on finale night

A preview for the finale shows that the hard feelings from the Fantasy Suite dates are far from over as Shallcross and both of the women are seen crying in the wake of it all.

“I’ve caused pain, and I’ve made mistakes,” the fiancé-to-be says in the clip. “But standing here with the ring, I just hope that it’s all worth it.”

How to watch “The Bachelor” finale

The two-hour finale episode of “The Bachelor” airs on ABC Monday, March 27, starting at 8p.m. EDT, immediately followed by a one-hour post-finale wrap-up, “After the Final Rose.”