The Bachelor’s Beverly Ortega has spoken out about her mysterious and sudden withdrawal from the show.
Ortega, 30, was among the roster of women competing for Grant Ellis’ heart on the current season of the hit ABC dating series. However, during Monday’s episode, it was announced that she had left and wouldn’t be returning.
“Today was supposed to be Beverly’s one-on-one with Grant,” fellow contestant Parisa Shifteh told the cameras. “But yesterday morning she was very sick. And today we found out that she will not be coming back to the house.”
Following Ortega’s exit, Ellis went ahead and took three other women on a smaller date, where he told them Ortega had to go home.
Ortega, the insurance salesperson from New York, has since addressed her abrupt departure on a new episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast.
Speaking to co-hosts and Bachelor in Paradise alums Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt, she explained that she had gone to take a nap while the other women left to go on their group date.
“I wake up and my stomach’s hurting,” she shared. “I’m like, ‘OK, maybe I just need to go to the bathroom,’ or the food didn’t sit well. I start throwing up.”
She continued: “My stomach is continuing to hurt and I’m in excruciating pain. This goes on for 12 hours.... They ended up taking me to the hospital. After three hours of being in the ER, the doctor came in and he’s like, ‘You have appendicitis. You’re going to need emergency surgery.'"
Ortega added that after the surgery, she went home and wasn’t able to say goodbye to Ellis.
“I was really sad, really, really bummed out,” she said. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to him. I didn’t get to tell him what happened. So I hope he didn’t think that like I left just because.”
She admitted that she thinks she would’ve “made it further” on the show if she had been able to stay.
During Monday’s episode, Ellis eliminated three additional women, including Chloie, Bailey and Alli Jo. There are 11 of 25 women remaining.
Ellis, a 31-year-old day trader from Texas, is on the search for his forever love on season 29 of The Bachelor. He previously competed on The Bachelorette, which has ceased production and won’t be returning this summer as expected following the most recent season’s “cruel” and “disgusting” finale.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu the next day.
