The Bachelor star Ben Higgins eliminated Caila Quinn after their Fantasy Suite date during Monday night's broadcast on ABC.
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Ben sent Caila, a 24-year-old software sales representative from Hudson, OH, home before the Rose Ceremony. She tried to sweetly surprise him at his villa in Rio Chico, Jamaica only to get blindsided and dumped following Ben's three romantic overnight dates.
"I could tell. I, like, wanted this to be a surprise and I was so excited to see him. I tried to jump into his arms and I just, like, didn't feel [the excitement back]. I thought I'd be getting engaged in a week-and-a-half. I was ready," Caila said in tears following her ouster.
"I was ready to get married. I was ready to be his wife. I was ready. I was ready for our future. It's all I thought about. My purpose in life is to love other people and I don't know why I haven't found it yet. I thought this was it. I thought this was it. I was ready. I didn't see this coming. I love him, too. Like, I still love him."
Caila might've fallen behind Ben's Final 2 bachelorettes Joelle "JoJo" Fletcher, a 24-year-old real estate developer from Dallas, TX, and Lauren Bushnell, a 25-year-old flight attendant from Marina Del Rey, CA, because she was standoffish during the day portion of their date in Jamaica and Ben felt she expressed her feelings somewhat poorly.
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But Caila was "off" only because she was struggling to tell Ben she was in love with him and deal with the fact two other women probably were as well. Ben thought she was unusually "quiet, reserved and melancholy."
That night, however, Caila ignored all distractions and told Ben everything felt right when she was with him.
"Part of me has been wanting to tell you something for a long time. And that is that I'm in love with you," Caila told him.
Caila said a man had never made her feel the way Ben did, and she could see it in the Bachelor's eyes and feel it in his breath when they kissed that he reciprocated the love. Caila agreed to stay in the Fantasy Suite with Ben, as did Lauren and JoJo later on.
"I could wake up in the morning and know for certain that Caila is the woman for me," Ben told the cameras.
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"There is no doubt in my mind that it will be him and I at the end of this," Caila said in a confessional, adding that she'd love to wake up next to Ben every day for the rest of her life.
However, Ben didn't tell Caila he was in love with her, and he ended up saying "I love you" to both Lauren and JoJo.
On his date with Lauren, Ben told her that she was too good for him -- that she was smart, beautiful, sensitive and simply out of his league. However, Lauren felt the same way in return.
"I'm head over heels for her," Ben told the cameras.
That night, Lauren let her walls down and opened up to Ben. She felt it was "all or nothing" in that moment.
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"I've been afraid and just -- I feel like I've felt this way for a long time, but I am completely in love with you and you really are the man of my dreams. You make me feel a way I didn't even know I could feel. I've been meaning to tell you for a while," Lauren told Ben.
"For me, I've known I'm in love with you for a while as well," Ben confessed.
Ben's admission moved Lauren to tears, and the couple exchanged a few more "I love you's" before their date was done. Lauren didn't think someone like Ben existed and he made her the happiest girl in the world.
"Ben is just my person. He's my person... Hopefully in a few days, I'll be waking up next to my fiance," Lauren noted in a confessional.
JoJo ended up telling Ben she loved him during the day portion of their date while they sat by a romantic waterfall. They had amazing chemistry and Ben found her so uplifting. He also always felt like he could be himself around her.
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"When I think about the future, there's not a doubt in my mind that I want to spend it with you... I do love you and I'm not just falling in love anymore," JoJo told Ben.
"JoJo, I love you too," Ben replied, causing JoJo to burst into tears.
"Are you allowed to say that!?" JoJo asked.
"I'm not," Ben confessed.
JoJo was ecstatic and said she was "freaking out." Her relationship with Ben was a fairytale and she said things couldn't have been more perfect. It was the best day of her life and JoJo finally felt 100% confident in what they had.
JoJo envisioned a future with Ben and assured him that her brothers would grow to love him. JoJo also let Ben know that saying those three little words back to her meant the world before they entered the Fantasy Suite together. Both individuals said "I love you again" before their date was done.
"I don't know how you can be in love with two women, but I am... Right now, it's impossible for me to say goodbye to one of these women," Ben told the cameras after his three overnight dates.
Ben eventually eliminated Caila and she was absolutely devastated.
"It's really hard to imagine saying goodbye to you," Ben told Caila.
"That sounds like a line," Caila snipped.
"I'm going to miss you Caila," Ben promised.
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"You don't have to say that," Caila insisted. "I really did love you."
Before Caila left in the car, she confronted Ben about whether he knew she was going home earlier that week. Ben said he was extremely conflicted and it wasn't until the two other women expressed their feelings for him that he realized how he felt. Ben said he never would've gone through with their Fantasy Suite date had he been sure she wasn't the one for him.
Caila then graciously exited the show and Ben bawled, hoping he didn't make a mistake since Caila was such an amazing girl.
The episode concluded with a Rose Ceremony in which Ben handed out roses to JoJo and then Lauren.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski