The Bachelor is actually a pretty crazy concept when you really think about it.
One man or woman, who producers talk about as of they’re the most eligible Bachelor/Bachelorette on not just our planet but in the entire solar system, dates 25-30 contestants all at once.
Week by week they eliminate the contestants after a brutal, gladiator style “cocktail party” in what is called a rose ceremony.
The lead calls out the names excruciatingly slow, with the chosen ones feeling euphoric and the rejected feeling as if their high school crush rejected their prom proposal.
Rose ceremonies are what Bachelor Nation was founded on, with the producers and Chris Harrison being the founding fathers.
A lead must dump someone who was – this close- to becoming their husband or wife, and 15 minutes later get engaged to someone else.
The Bachelor/Bachelorette is iconic for a reason. Below are the 7 most memorable rose ceremonies in Bachelor history. Don’t let those thorns poke you.
1. Chris Soules’ season: Jillian Anderson falls
Being on a show like The Bachelor, with multiple cameras on you, and the pressure to perform, can give a person something like stage fright. A rose ceremony takes this to a whole new level.
Girls have to stand in a row, sometimes on a platform after hours of performing like circus animals, begging for the lead’s attention, and slugging champagne like there’s no tomorrow.
So, it makes sense that occasionally The Bachelor might call the wrong name, or a woman might hear it wrong. In the case of Jillian Anderson, it was the latter.
During Chris Soules’ season of The Bachelor, Jillian stepped forward, despite Chris actually calling the name Julia. While that wouldn’t be considered super embarrassing, perhaps just a little cringe-worthy, she fell while stepping back!
The carpet (you know The Bachelor producers had been waiting years for someone to finally trip over that strategically placed piece of fabric) slid out from under her, and she laughed like a hyena.
The other girls looked at her like they were auditioning for the next Mean Girls movie.
2. Juan Pablo Galavis’ season: The Wrong girl steps forward
Much like Jillian during Chris Soules’ rose ceremony, Kylie stepped forward, thinking she heard her name, when Juan Pablo Galavis had, in fact, said Cat.
The actual name mix-up is generally not even considered the most embarrassing part of these rose ceremony debacles. It’s the reaction from the other women.
There are cringe faces, whispers, and low mumbles, with catty interviews played in between. Side eyes, rolling eyes, and wide eyes. Laughs, giggles, and guffaws. It’s all very civil and polite.
The Bachelor and Bachelorette are like a jungle. It’s survival of the fittest, and if you’re the loser who falls, the predators will be out, preying on the weak.
3. Jesse Palmer calls the wrong name
During Jesse Palmer’s season of The Bachelor, he called the wrong name during a rose ceremony.
Are you sensing a pattern here? Perhaps producers could come up with an easier way of doing things; Post-it notes on rose stems, Chris Harrison holding up signs behind the women’s heads, or just some vitamin B12 shots because it’s a loooong night.
Jesse called Katie, while looking in the wrong direction, and looked stunned when it wasn’t Karen walking towards him. He asked Chris Harrison for a moment, and explained the mix up.
It looked as if he thought Chris Harrison would do the dirty work for him, but when the pair came in, Chris dropped Jesse like a dollar bill saying, “Ladies, Jesse has something to say to you.” Well played Chris, well played.
And, if you’ve ever wondered what a lack of self respect looks like, it’s Katie deciding to stay despite almost getting sent home.
4. Clare Crawley gets angry at Juan Pablo
Juan Pablo’s season of The Bachelor will go down in history as one of the worst. It’s not often on this show that you have a lead cast as the villain; actually that had never happened before.
Juan Pablo started out as The Bachelor’s first Latin American lead, with a sexy accent, and swagger that made women go crazy for him.
However, it wasn’t even halfway through the season before his true colors began to show. During Fantasy Suite week, Andi Dorfman actually quit the show after suffering an entire night with Juan Pabs.
She would later reveal in her book, It’s Not Okay (referencing the argument she and Juan Pablo had the morning after their overnight date) that he blasted Ray J and showed her his old soccer highlights on YouTube.
So, when Juan Pablo made it to the final week with both of his final two still there, it felt like a miracle. Clare Crawley was so caught off guard by Juan Pablo’s rejection on finale night that the pair had it out.
In the end, she viciously pointed her finger at him, and infamously said, “I would never want my children having a father like you.” Ouch. As Dane Cook would say, women really are brain ninjas.
5. Luke Parker crashes Hannah Brown’s rose ceremony
Luke Parker was a Bachelor Nation triple threat; a front runner from the very beginning, a villain, and a strict Christian.
However, during Fantasy Suite week, he and Hannah didn’t even make it to the bedroom before they talked about sex, and it didn’t go according to plan. Luke told Hannah he did not want to continue dating her if he found out she had slept with the other two guys (he clearly didn’t know about the windmill yet.)
Hannah was rightfully pissed and many viewers claimed Luke was slut shaming her. Hannah sent Luke home with a middle finger and a glare, but not before he asked if he could pray over her.
Obviously not taking no for an answer, delusional Luke decided he wasn’t done with Hannah and crashed her rose ceremony. He walked in as if he hadn’t been eliminated and hilariously stood next to the other guys, who had no idea.
When Hannah showed up, she was livid, and the other three guys told Luke to take a hike. Actually, Luke said he wasn’t leaving, and the one and only Angel that is Tyler Cameron told him, “Or what?” in a sexy yet protective way.
Jed Wyatt, with his tiny head and even tinier guitar (you know what I mean), chimed in, “Yeah, or what?” in his tiny little voice that he reserves for dog food commercials.
6. Victoria leaves and is angry at Matt James
Victoria, who’s in the running for most insane and delusional contestants to ever appear on the show, was not having it when Matt James decided to send her home.
Throughout the rose ceremony, her interview was played in which she bad mouthed the other girls, even calling Katie (a true Queen) disgusting.
When the rose ceremony was finished, and Victoria was left empty-handed, she stalked up to Matt, arms crossed in front of her like she was ready to ask for the manager at Target.
Victoria let Matt know she felt sorry for him and angrily told the other girls goodbye. She hilariously said Matt was not her King and even called him a jester.
The Victorias of this world may be obnoxious and rude, but they make for fantastic television.
Also, she claimed she will never date another Matt for the rest of her life, and hates that name now. All the Matts of the world can now breathe a sigh of relief.
7. Brad Womack chooses nobody
Brad Womack, the guy that had to go through The Bachelor process not once, but twice to find love (though he will never outdo Nick Viall) chose to go home alone during the season finale.
When Jenni ‘JeNay’ Croft wasn’t chosen, viewers assumed it was a pretty typical finale and Brad would propose to DeAnna Papas.
However, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Bachelor lead was sweating bullets as he stumbled over his words and loosened his tie like he was about to have a heart attack. He stepped off the platform to take a breather and came back to let DeAnna know he couldn’t be with her either.
Surprisingly, it was the first time a Bachelor lead had decided to stay single after the whole process and it hasn’t happened since.