‘Bachelor’ Contestants Who Eliminated Themselves

Salley Carson dumped Clayton Echard before his season of “The Bachelor” had even really begun.

Before Echard had even gotten to the Bachelor Mansion and greeted his new contestants as they walked out of the limo, he had been rejected by Carson.

Carson joined the season almost immediately after breaking up with her fiancé — her wedding day would’ve been the first day of filming — and didn’t feel up to being a part of Echard’s season. So she visited him at his hotel room, told him she wasn’t feeling great, and he point-blank offered her a rose to keep her there.

Unfortunately, Carson rejected the rose, making Echard the first Bachelor to have their first rose be turned down.

Greg Grippo left Katie Thurston’s season after one of the rawest fights in “Bachelor” history.

Throughout the 17th season of “The Bachelorette,” Grippo was a front-runner for Thurston’s heart. He got the first impression rose, the first one-on-one, a second one-on-one, and made it all the way to hometowns.

But after a pretty successful day with his family, things started to break down once Grippo told Thurston he loved her, and she responded that she loved “looking at him.”

This led to what seemed like hours of back and forth, lots of crying, fighting, and a plea to Thurston to tell Grippo how she really felt, all to no avail. Grippo left the show, leaving Thurston heartbroken on the bathroom floor, asking host Kaitlyn Bristowe to book her a flight home.

Right before Thurston met Michael Allio’s family, he decided to take himself out of the running to be with his son.

Throughout the season, Allio was beloved by Thurston, the rest of the contestants, and fans. He even brought multiple men to tears when he shared the story of his deceased wife, Laura, and how much she had taught him about living life to the fullest.

Allio easily could’ve made it to the final two, but instead, he chose to be home with his 4-year-old son, James, after a truly depressing FaceTime in which James told his dad, “Maybe daddy left because he don’t want to see me.”

“My son needs his dad,” he told Thurston before sending himself home. Understandably, Thurston was devastated, and she even said, “It’s very possible that my person just left.”

Serena Pitt appeared to shock Matt James when she told him she didn’t think he was her “person” and left after hometowns.

Pitt (known as Serena P.) started to show signs of discomfort and doubt during her second one-on-one date during the 25th season of “The Bachelor,” but it all came to a head during her hometown date, when her mother and sister both told her it didn’t seem like she was in love with James. Pitt told James she was having doubts, which he took in stride — but that concerned Pitt.

Eventually, the next day, James went back to discuss their relationship, and Pitt broke the news that she simply didn’t see it for the two of them, and that James wasn’t her “person.” Pitt then took her leave, leaving behind a shaken and surprised James.

Kit Keenan decided she wasn’t ready to be engaged at the end of James’ season, and she took herself out of the running.

Keenan, who was just 21 years old when she entered James’ season, decided to leave James’ season when she realized she wasn’t ready to be married yet, nor was she all in on the relationship.

After Sarah Trott emerged as an early frontrunner on James’ season, it was shocking — though not totally surprising — that she sent herself home to spend time with her father.

Trott had one of the first one-on-one dates of James’ season, a surefire sign that he was seriously interested in her. During the date, she told James that she had moved back in with her parents to take care of her father, who has ALS, and the decision to go on the show was weighing heavily on her.

Over the course of the next episode, Trott quickly began to unravel. She spiraled about James going on dates and building connections with other women, interrupted a group date that she wasn’t supposed to be on (creating enemies in the house), isolating herself from everyone else, and guilting herself about being on the show at all while her father was sick.

This all came to a head when Katie Thurston came to speak with Trott to explain that she didn’t appreciate the way the other women were piling on Trott. The two had a heartfelt conversation in which Trott finally shared with another woman that her father had a terminal illness, and Thurston explained that her father had died in 2012, and she wouldn’t trade a minute of the time she had gotten with her dad. After that, Trott’s decision was made, and she told James she was going home.

After making it all the way to the final three and Fantasy Suites on Tayshia Adams’ season in 2020, Brendan Morais decided he wasn’t over his divorce and left.

Morais received the first one-on-one date when Adams took over as Bachelorette, and it went very well. They connected about being young divorcées, and Adams even ended the date saying that she thought he could be “the one.”

After that, Morais sort of faded into the background, but was always around as one of Adams’ strongest connections. But after making it all the way to the finale, Morais and Adams had a semi-disastrous Fantasy Suite date in which the two of them spent the date with Neil Lane, the famed ring designer for the franchise.

Morais was visibly uncomfortable all day long, and it wasn’t a huge shock when, during the evening portion of the date, Morais revealed he was unable to “give all of himself” to Adams and their relationship, and was still working through his divorce. He left Adams broken-hearted on the eve of her final episode.

Jason Foster took himself out of the running once Tayshia replaced Clare Crawley as the Bachelorette.

Crawley was the star of “The Bachelorette” for four episodes before exiting the season with a fiancé, Dale Moss, in tow. While it seemed incredibly obvious to viewers that she only had eyes for Moss, Foster also had a one-on-one date with Crawley, and it was a pretty intense one at that.

So, when Crawley left and Adams took over, he just couldn’t shake his feelings for Crawley — in fact, he said he was in love with her — and decided to leave the season after a day of mulling it over.

In an unprecedented move, Madison Prewett left Peter Weber’s season when she was in the final two, leaving Peter alone with Hannah Ann.

After issuing an ultimatum the week prior about Weber “being intimate” with other women during Fantasy Suites, a disastrous meeting with the Weber family, and what she perceived as incompatible lifestyle choices, Prewett left Weber behind in the Australian Outback, leaving him with just one contestant left.

Of course, after the season ended, Prewett admitted she regretted what she did, and proceeded to meet up with Weber after his engagement ended … but she still initially removed herself from the season.

Luke Stone was the first and only guy to leave Hannah Brown’s season after a two-episode conflict with villain Luke Parker.

Stone and Parker were involved in one of the season’s biggest feuds. The two got into an altercation on the rugby field, in which Stone claimed that Parker threw him to the ground for no reason, and Parker claimed he was acting in self-defense.

The fight escalated when Parker told Brown that Stone wasn’t there for the right reasons, which infuriated everyone, including Stone.

The fight wasn’t getting resolved, Brown was clearly conflicted with who to believe, and everyone was upset — so Stone pulled Brown aside right before a rose ceremony and took himself out of the running.

Cassie Randolph’s exit upset Colton Underwood so much, he jumped the fence at their Portugal date spot.

After a season of being told that Randolph wasn’t ready for marriage, the “Bachelor” still chose to keep her around until Fantasy Suites.

Randolph hemmed and hawed about whether she was actually in love with Underwood or not. When her father flew to Portugal to inform her he hadn’t given Underwood his blessing to ask her to marry him, her decision was made.

What followed was an excruciating conversation in which Underwood all but told Randolph he was going to pick her at the end, and attempted to convince her to stay. She chose to leave anyway, and Underwood hopped over a fence for some time to think about his next move.

Now that we know what we know about their relationship and Underwood’s alleged stalking and harassment of Randolph, and Underwood coming out as gay, this moment has aged even worse that it already would have.

Heather Martin rode away on a train after telling Colton Underwood she wasn’t ready for him to meet her family.

Martin’s departure from her group date made her the third contestant in a row to voluntarily leave the season.

Martin, who had never been kissed prior to her one-on-one date with Underwood, told him that she wasn’t comfortable introducing him to her family at hometown dates.

Elyse Dehlbom left Colton Underwood’s season after he was unable to give her what she wanted.

After putting on what Demi, a fellow contestant, called her “statement dress,” Dehlbom headed over to Underwood’s room to express her difficulties with his dating multiple other women (aka, yes, the premise of the show). When Underwood was unable to tell her he was going to ditch the show to be with her, she left the season in tears.

Kenny King left Rachel Lindsay’s season of “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise” because he missed his daughter.

King and Lindsay came to the joint conclusion that he should leave her season of “The Bachelorette,” after he admitted to missing his daughter.

When he returned for “Bachelor in Paradise,” he stayed for a couple of weeks before deciding to go home early, after he hadn’t made any strong connections and again, missed his daughter.

Jacqueline Trumbull eliminated herself realizing her and “Bachelor” Arie Luyendyk’s futures weren’t aligned.

After second-guessing herself all season long, Trumbull went home after her and Luyendyk couldn’t see eye to eye about their relationship — mainly, Trumbull was nervous that she was rushing into something, and Luyendyk believed her life was too complicated because of her plans to attend grad school.

Ben Higgins took himself out of “Bachelor: Winter Games” because he wasn’t ready to move on from his ex.

Higgins, a former “Bachelor” himself, left the inaugural season of “Winter Games” when he admitted that he wasn’t quite ready to move on from the winner of his season, Lauren Bushnell, during tearful conversations with Ashley Iaconetti and Chris Harrison.

Ed Swiderski left to save his job, but returned a few weeks later — and eventually won the show.

Swiderski exited Jillian Harris’ season of “The Bachelorette” after his boss gave him an ultimatum: job or love? At first, he chose his career, and left the season.

However, he had a change of heart and returned to the show, eventually getting down on one knee and successfully proposing to Harris.

Ian Thomson called Kaitlyn Bristowe shallow, and then took his leave from the season.

Thomson left Bristowe’s season after managing to imply that she wasn’t there for the right reasons, only cared about making out with guys, and was a “surface-level person.”

If that wasn’t enough, he was able to drop that he went to Princeton twice in his limo exit, and claimed that he should be the next “Bachelor.”

Andi Dorfman got real with Juan Pablo Galavis and dumped him, before going on to become the next “Bachelorette” lead.

Galavis, a universally reviled “Bachelor,” was dumped by Dorfman after she realized that they barely knew each other, a fact that didn’t seem to concern Galavis at all.

Ali Fedotowsky ditched Jake Pavelka’s season to save her job.

After her boss threatened to fire her if she didn’t immediately leave the show, Fedotowsky prioritized her career over her budding relationship with Pavelka.

Thankfully, she wasn’t done searching for love on TV, and was later named the Bachelorette.

After “Bachelorette” star Ashley Hebert told her suitors she had seen hated contestant Bentley again after he’d left, Ryan “Mickey” McLean got fed up and left himself.

Hebert was upfront with the men of her season, and told them that she had seen Bentley again after he had left the show. While none of them were happy, McLean had a particularly hard time dealing with it, and asked her to send him home. When she refused, he took matters into his own hands and exited the season.

Brady Toops left Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season on night one to pursue a relationship with the other potential “Bachelorette,” Britt Nilsson.

Maltby, of Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor,” is a fan-favorite, due to her sweet nature, and openness about her struggles with mental health and her fiancé who passed away.

But, for whatever reason, she didn’t click with anyone on “Paradise,” so she chose to leave the season early when she got the opportunity to work as a pediatric nurse in Kenya for a few weeks — though she did get a swoon-worthy kiss goodbye from bartender Wells Adams.

Danielle Maltby left “Bachelor in Paradise” for the most honorable reason — she got the opportunity to help provide medical care for children in Kenya.

Maltby, of Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor,” is a fan-favorite, due to her sweet nature, and openness about her struggles with mental health and her fiancé who passed away.

But, for whatever reason, she didn’t click with anyone on “Paradise,” so she chose to leave the season early when she got the opportunity to work as a pediatric nurse in Kenya for a few weeks — though she did get a swoon-worthy kiss goodbye from bartender Wells Adams.

Bentley Williams bragged about making Ashley Hebert cry, left, and then returned to the show to break her heart again.

“Bachelorette” lead Hebert had been warned about Williams before the season even began, but it didn’t stop her from falling for him. Meanwhile, he was bad-mouthing her behind the scenes, telling producers that he wasn’t “overly attracted” to her, and excited to make her cry.

He told her that he missed his daughter, but clearly that wasn’t the case. Williams returned a few episodes later and essentially told her to get over him.

Clay Harbour injured himself during a group date and decided to go home.

Harbour, a player in the NFL, somewhat ironically injured his wrist during a group date in which the men played football.

In order to properly heal for the season, Harbour took himself out of the running for Becca Kufrin’s heart.

Lace Morris left Ben Higgins’ season of her own volition to work on herself.

By her own admission, Morris wasn’t ready to find love.

“You can’t love somebody else until you truly love yourself, and I don’t know if I truly love myself yet. I think it’s better that I go,” she told Higgins before exiting.