Zach Shallcross' latest elimination was his hardest one yet. On Monday's episode of The Bachelor, the tech executive made the shocking decision to send Charity home after their hometown date, something he later explained in an interview with ET.
"Our hometown date was so much fun. Her family is very welcoming, very sweet, very loving, and it was a hell of a day," Zach told ET of his visit to Georgia. "We went line dancing. I really went home with the biggest smile on my face."
Charity was equally smitten, telling Zach at the conclusion of their date that she was falling in love with him. While Zach seemed thrilled by Charity's reveal at the time, that changed before he went into the rose ceremony.
"When I woke up the morning of the rose ceremony, I looked at all of my time. The other three women are also equally as great with all different, unique, loving families," he explained. "I had to make an actual impossible decision, because at this point, I wouldn't be meeting their families if I didn't see a future with them. There's nothing wrong here."
Zach admitted he was "sick to my stomach all day" leading up to the rose ceremony.
"I didn't know what I was going to do, what I was going to say, how can I actually do this? This is the most messed up thing in the world," he said. "It's the show I'm in, and I made a decision and just hoped I didn't F up. I just followed what my heart and gut was saying of, 'Rely on your intuition, rely on this.'"
Both Charity and Zach cried as she was driven away, but the tech executive is confident he'll find love with one of the "unique and awesome" women he has remaining.
After visiting Gabi in Vermont and furthering their relationship even more, Zach told ET, "She's got this quirky personality and goofy and says the thing that people sometimes aren't supposed to say, but she says it anyways, and it's really funny."
Zach next traveled to New York City for Ariel's hometown date. There, he embarked on a tour of the city full of food and culture, before facing some tough questions from his date's dad and brother.
"With Ariel, she was someone that was very mysterious very early on and caught my attention. After quite a bit of time together and our one-on-one date in Estonia, I was seeing someone totally different," Zach said. "It was exciting, and she had so many different layers to her, and I just wanted to get to know her more and more. It was really intriguing."
Then there's Kaity, who Zach got to visit in their shared hometown of Austin, Texas. The Bachelor felt an "immediate connection" with Kaity, something that only deepened after they spent a day running errands and building furniture together, before having a great meeting with her family.
"She just exudes this kindness and compassion that I'm really looking for," he said. "She really made that week in London when I was locked up in my room alone, pacing the room by myself, just in my own thoughts, she came to see me and to give me the little gift basket, but also just to let me know that she's thinking of me, and... that meant a lot."
Previews of what's to come haven't been short on drama, as they've revealed that Zach will make, and ultimately break, a no-sex rule during Fantasy Suite week.
"It's an emotional season, but it's very overwhelming at times," Zach confessed before host Jesse Palmer provided a further tease of the weeks ahead.
"Everything's about to turn onto its head. We're going to be involved in a situation that I don't think we've ever had on the show before," Jesse told ET. "This is not what Zach had planned and he is going to have to dig deep to try to pull himself out of this. This is going to be more dramatic and more emotional by leaps and bounds versus anything that we've seen this year."
The Bachelor airs Mondays on ABC. Stay up to date on all the drama with ET's coverage of Zach Shallcross' journey for love.
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