The Bachelor star Grant Ellis has defended Zoe McGrady as a person as well as her controversial dating approach on the show.

ADVERTISEMENT

Grant said he's "not surprised" by the Zoe drama currently playing out on The Bachelor's 29th season because he was aware she was a bit of an outcast from the group during filming.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

"I definitely had an inclination of that behind the scenes, but I think that Zoe is somebody who is misunderstood at certain points," Grant said during the Thursday, February 13 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.

Grant continued, "There's always going to be people who don't like you, and it doesn't matter what you do."

But Grant suggested that if drama "reoccurs a lot" with the same person, then it may raise a red flag.

"It's like, 'Okay, why do people not like this person? There might be a reason.' But some people are just not going to like you for breathing."

Zoe entered The Bachelor scene on Night 1 with guns blazing, quite literally.

She and Grant shot T-shirts with their faces on them into the backyard of The Bachelor mansion.

"It was a little forward. She definitely came across as someone intentional," Grant told Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt on the podcast.

And then right in the middle of a basketball competition during a group date, Zoe stole Grant away for a conversation, which rubbed the other bachelorettes the wrong way.

Grant said that Zoe's bold move certainly caught him "off-guard."

"I remember when I was on [Jenn Tran's The Bachelorette] season, I tried to avoid doing that," Grant admitted.

"But as the lead, I tried to give everybody a chance to show me who they were, and that was just a part of the process."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

Grant acknowledged it was "definitely hard" to navigate a dating process in which multiple women were fighting for his attention all at once.

"They'll do some things that maybe in the normal world, you'd be like, 'Ahh, maybe just relax,'" Grant said.

"But in this setting, you kind of have to see where everybody lies. It's not, 'Everything goes,' but you have to let a lot of things play out. And it may make it a little sticky sometimes."

Grant said, in his mind, the journey was about "pushing these women and opening up" so he could find his person.

"And in the process of that, it caused -- especially when you start to care for people -- it causes you to try to push people to do better and to be different," Grant shared.

But Grant pointed out how he is "not really a drama guy" and so he hopes his future partner will be the same way.

"I avoid conflict at all costs," Grant noted.

"Conflict for me is a final resort, but sometimes, you have to stand up for yourself. You definitely have to stand up for yourself if somebody is starting the drama... I think the hard part is figuring out what's going on between the scenes when you don't see everything."

While Grant wasn't privy to all of the tension and arguing behind the scenes, he said he got a good taste of the drama -- and who started it -- during group dates.

"Because you can tell when the other women don't like somebody. You may just not like somebody, but if there's a consensus in the house and most of them are leaning towards one way, you start to gather evidence," Grant explained.

"But you've always got to give somebody the benefit of the doubt. So I tried to do that as much as possible with the little time I had."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)  

Grant concluded, "I used the group dates to see how they're acting and how this person is acting in a group setting, like, 'Are they comfortable? Are they a likeable person?' I tried to figure that out."

Zoe also defended her behavior during a "Bachelor Happy Hour" appearance earlier this month.

"In my brain, and the way I think, it's like, 'There's no rules there,' you know what I mean? So I knew it would rub people the wrong way, but I didn't think it would anger them," Zoe said of stealing time with Grant.

"I thought it was going to be something like, 'Oh dang, she did what I wanted to do, and I'm going to take notes for next time,' not like, 'Oh my god, she's this evil, mean woman trying to steal Grant from all of us."

Zoe accused Grant's bachelorettes of having "a groupthink" mentality, and she also slammed them for talking behind her back instead of having a mature conversation with her about their frustrations.

"They came in an attack and they came as a group. And I was like, 'I'm not about to be bulldozed into trying to lessen myself, like, I didn't do anything wrong!'" Zoe vented.

Zoe insisted if any other woman had stolen Grant away, she "would not have been angry at them."

"I'm also not going to operate in a way that's not authentic to me. I do bold things throughout my life; that is who I am and it's who I'm always going to be," Zoe said.

"It's not bold because I need attention and it's not bold because I'm insecure; it's bold because I like to do things a little different. That's just how I work, and you're allowed to do whatever you want to do."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Click here to read spoilers that reveal what happens on Grant's The Bachelor season, including his winner and runner-up.

Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!




About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS