Shock and awww: ‘Golden Bachelor’ leaves everyone — including host Jesse Palmer — emotional

It was a head-turning, gut-wrenching and tear-gushing episode of The Golden Bachelor Thursday, in what was the Women Tell All special.

With Susan, Kathy, Marina, April, Christina, Edith, Ellen, Joan, Nancy, Natascha, Pamela, Patty and Sandra on hand to reminisce about their time with each other and Gerry, a curse-heavy meditation courtesy of Sandra got the night started.

From there, viewers were treated to a look back at highlights, bloopers and emotional exits from the season thus far, along with the conclusion of last week’s cliffhanger episode and its aftermath.

Here’s a look at the biggest moments from Thursday’s Women Tell All episode.

Last week’s final rose

After leaving viewers stunned with a cliffhanger episode last week in which Gerry had one rose left for either Theresa or Faith, viewers finally learned this week that it was Theresa who received the rose, and Faith who had to say goodbye. A move that elicited plenty of shock both in the studio and with viewers reacting on social media.

“I felt like we connected on a level where I was ready to marry the dude, you know? I wanted so much more for me,” Faith said in the car after the rose ceremony. “And I wanted so much more for my kids — for them to see me have that. Maybe it’s just not in the cards for me.”

The aftermath

When Faith arrived at the Women Tell All and went on stage with host Jesse Palmer — who said even he was shocked at Gerry’s decision — she got emotional watching her story play back and then said she felt “shattered” after it happened.

When Gerry came out to see and even communicate with Faith for the first time since that night, they embraced for a long, tearful hug. Faith expressed how devastating it was for her to go from feeling safe with him to feeling like she was looking at a stranger and like there is “nothing” between them.

“It was not nothing,” Gerry said to her. “Believe me, I have thought about that night and those moments where I had told you that I loved you, and in those moments I did. I genuinely loved you. I felt like I had built and created something along with you only to destroy it in a brief moment.”

Gerry went on to tell her that his decision was about who was right for him, but that didn’t mean the others were any less wonderful or important or lovable. He also said that he feels extra bad for breaking a promise to her family that he made during their hometown date.

“I promised them I would protect your heart and I didn’t do that.”

Faith told Gerry that she never felt like he deceived her or broke her heart on purpose, and Gerry said that he’s “definitely a better person” for having met her.

Missing Roberta

One of the other highly emotional moments of the night came when Ellen — who narrowly missed out on hometown dates — joined Palmer on stage for a look at her experience with Gerry.

But she also discussed her friend Roberta, who she referenced during her introduction to Gerry on night one and who encouraged Ellen to sign up for the show. She said her friend of more than 60 years — who was diagnosed with stage four cancer around the time Ellen signed up — was in a semi-comatose state by the time filming had ended, and she never made it to the show’s premiere.

“I finally said to her, ‘I don’t want you to suffer anymore, I want you to go, it’s okay. We’re gonna watch the show, just from different places, together,” Ellen said. “And I shared it with her daughter and my children and it was a remarkable experience just to know she was watching over me because I miss her. I miss her a lot.”

After wiping tears of his own away, Palmer informed Ellen that Roberta’s daughter Courtney was in the audience and the two shared a moment together. And Palmer wasn’t the only one crying during the moment. Many viewers took to social media to share their tears with the world, as well.

A look ahead

With two episodes remaining and a break for the Thanksgiving holiday in between, it will be a few weeks before Gerry potentially rides off into the sunset with his newfound love. Next week will be the “fantasy suite” dates in Costa Rica.

And if there’s any question about these being any different than on other iterations of The Bachelor franchise, Gerry is seen telling Palmer that “people my age still knock boots.”

Beyond that it seems Gerry will be right back where he’s already been, forced to make a very hard and emotional decision.

The Golden Bachelor airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.