Who Goes Home on ‘The Bachelor’ Season 29, Episode 2? Spoilers and Live Recap

Grant Ellis’s journey to finding true love is just getting started.

Alexe and Grant on ‘The Bachelor’ Season 29 / Disney/John Fleenor

We now have a reason to look forward to Mondays because The Bachelor is back with a brand-new season. The long-running dating reality show sees one lucky suitor on a mission to find the love of his life, dating a long list of women in competition for his rose. Each week, the show’s lead, in this case, Grant Ellis, must make tough decisions while getting to know his contestants and forming connections. As he gets closer to these women and starts to fall for some, the journey becomes very complicated as he says goodbye to more each week.

Grant was introduced to America through The Bachelorette Season 21, where he competed for Jenn Tran’s final rose. In the end, the 31-year-old day trader from New Jersey was eliminated ahead of hometowns in an emotional send-off. But that tough experience didn’t force Grant to swear off love. On the contrary, he’s more determined than ever to find the one he’s going to spend the rest of his life with.

We recapped Season 29, Episode 2 live, updating this article in real-time.

The first group date with Grant

The ladies were so excited to start a new day in the Bachelor mansion, and the second episode of the season started on a high note with host Jesse Palmer coming over to give them some good news. A group date would be starting ASAP. Going on the date were Beverly, Sarafiena, Alli Jo, Natalie, Parisa, Vicky, Chloie, Juliana and Allyshia. After hearing their names called off, the ladies quickly got ready and headed to a basketball court, where they would play with Grant—and a group of children.

While some were excited and confident about their basketball skills, some, like Parisa, admitted they didn’t have any talent on the court. But that didn’t keep the ladies from having a great time at the beginning, enjoying getting to see Grant interact with kids. The game was cut short, however, when Zoe forfeited her turn and instead stole alone time with Grant. Unsurprisingly, the other ladies were frustrated with the move, feeling that it was unfair.

Ashley Brewer, Jesse Palmer and Grant Ellis on ‘The Bachelor’ Season 29 / Disney/John Fleenor

Eventually, Grant and Zoe returned, just in time for Palmer to drop a bombshell. The ladies would be competing in a 5-on-5 competition, complete with uniforms, for the title of “MVP” along with winning Grant’s letterman jacket. For the tournament, the show recruited sports journalist Ashley Brewer to serve as a commentator alongside Palmer, and Grant sat beside them to watch.

After some nail breaks and pushing, the purple team came out victorious, which meant more time with Grant. Chloie was awarded the title of MVP, given Grant’s jacket and even got to share a kiss with him right on the basketball court.

Zoe emerged as the first villain of the season

During the cocktail party after the basketball group date, Grant enjoyed alone time with Chloie, who he called “a beautiful woman” with a “great personality.” They shared another kiss while the other women reflected on the day. It didn’t take long for the ladies to call Zoe out for stealing time with Grant during the group date, but she was dismissive, feeling like they only had one shot to get closer to him. “The card said shoot your shot,” she told the group. “So I shot my shot.”

Grant got to bond with Natalie and Juliana, sharing a kiss with both during one-on-one time. Drama erupted again when Zoe stole more alone time with Grant, which seriously angered the other women waiting their turn. After some time, Alli Jo decided to take matters into her own hands and interrupted Zoe’s one-on-one with Grant, determined to make an impression. Suddenly, however, Zoe reappeared, lingering around the room before asking to steal Grant back.

Though Alli Jo agreed, she erupted once she got back to the other contestants, saying she was “done” with Zoe. When Zoe returned, Alli Jo called her out and wouldn’t back down, though Zoe was hesitant to respond. Eventually, Grant made his way back to the main room and gave his group date rose to Natalie.

Alexe’s one-on-one with Grant

Ahead of his first one-on-one date of the season, Grant expressed feeling “so good” and “ecstatic” about getting to spend time with Alexe. The pair went shopping at a totally empty mall, getting to try on clothes and shoes as well as jumping on beds and making desserts at a café. They were clearly having a blast, goofing off and sharing kisses. Grant also showed off his piano and singing skills, performing a song for his date.

Alexe and Grant on ‘The Bachelor’ Season 29 / Disney/John Fleenor

Getting vulnerable, Grant opened up about his dad, while Alexe talked about her relationship with her mom, who she is estranged from. “He hears me, he understands me,” Alexe told the camera during her confessional, bonding over a shared experience of not having the “picture-perfect” upbringing. As expected, Grant gave Alexe the one-on-one rose.

The second group date

Ahead of the second group date of the week, Dina expressed how supportive the women were of each other, feeling worried after hearing about the drama that went down during the first group date. This date was much different from the basketball tournament, as the ladies headed to a music venue where they were met by the singer Mario performing on stage. Explaining that this date was about “expressing how you feel,” Grant was ready to see the creative side of his contestants.

For this competition, the women had to write lyrics, sing and dance—but not without some help, of course. Choreographer Robin Antin, best known for creating the burlesque dance group The Pussycat Dolls, appeared to give the ladies a hand. But with such short notice, the contestants were, understandably, very nervous. Fortunately, Grant eased their nerves a bit by performing a song he wrote before the women had to get up on stage.

Then it was showtime. The ladies performed together on stage, with each of them getting a solo moment to show off their skills, whether that was singing, dancing or even doing a split. Of course, there could only be one winner, and that would be Carolina. The other contestants were less than pleased when they saw Carolina straddle and make out with Grant, causing jealousy across the venue.

The tension between the women was evident at the start of the cocktail party after the group date and Grant expressed to the camera in his confessional that he felt awkward. On the hunt to figure out what went wrong, he began pulling women aside to ask why the vibe was off. Rebekah explained to him that it was difficult seeing him date other women but assured him the ladies were still supportive of him despite the stress.

By the end of the night, the group felt pretty defeated, but one woman found a glimmer of hope. Litia had an important conversation with Grant, in which they both opened up and shared a kiss. Grant felt that they had reached a new level of “emotional intimacy” and it came as no surprise that he gave her the group date rose.

Grant Ellis for ‘The Bachelor’ / Disney/Matt Sayles

During the final cocktail party of the episode, Grant continued to bond with the contestants, while some grew more and more stressed over the looming rose ceremony.

Here’s who went home during the rose ceremony

The most important moment of the episode came at the very end, per usual—and yes, of course, we’re talking about the rose ceremony. This is who went home during Episode 2:

• Allyshia
• Ella
• Rebekah
• Vicky

Reality TV scooper Reality Steve reported that one contestant who got a rose tonight was forced to self-eliminate in Week 3 after being hospitalized. We’re keeping her in our thoughts and hoping she had a speedy recovery.

During the premiere last week, Grant got to meet his 25 lovely contestants, who brought their A-game to their memorable limo entrances. From a llama named Linda and a wedding cake to a t-shirt gun and a Fathead sign of his face, he was thoroughly amused by the ladies’ creativity. But things really started to heat up during the cocktail party, where Grant smooched multiple women and gave his first impression rose to Alexe, which was actually a bit more weighted this season. Not only did Alexe get the reassurance she’d be sticking around another week, but the rose also gave her the first one-on-one date of the season.

The Bachelor Season 29 airs new episodes every Monday night on ABC. New episodes stream on Hulu the next day. Take a peek at the dramatic preview for the remainder of the season to get a tease of what’s to come in the weeks ahead: