Spoiler alert! This discusses The Bachelor Season 29 finale, including who Grant Ellis proposes to in the end. Stream the episode with a Hulu subscription if you need to catch up.
Another season of The Bachelor has come to an end, with Grant Ellis eliminating all but one of the women who we watched exit the limos at Bachelor Mansion just weeks ago. Over the course of three hours, tears were shed, advice was given, and Grant finally decided that Juliana Pasquarosa was the woman he wanted to get engaged to. As I watched the Season 29 journey conclude, I couldn’t help but think of one big change the franchise needs to make for future seasons:
No more three-hour finales!
We knew all season that Grant Ellis was going to struggle to choose between his final two women — who turned out to be Juliana Pasquarosa and Litia Garr — in the finale, and other than that, there were really no twists or unexpected drama that justified a three-hour runtime. That means we got a lot of filler — Grant repeating the good qualities of each woman, flashbacks to dates we’ve already seen, unnecessary segments and so many ads.
I’m not alone in my thinking, either, as many in Bachelor Nation took to social media to complain about this block of the 2025 TV schedule. One fan joked:
Me watching this 3 hour finale knowing everything could be finished in an hour #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/BxwslYw1JpMarch 25, 2025
There were moments where it felt obvious that The Bachelor producers were trying to fill the time. When Juliana Pasquarosa met up with Grant Ellis to meet his family, they showed her walking from like a mile away. Honestly, it took a full 30 seconds from the time she started her trek to when she reached her boyfriend. That was only 20 minutes into the three-hour finale, so I figured we were in for a long night.
My point was proven when — still less than an hour into the show — host Jesse Palmer brought up Charity Lawson, Clayton Echard and Gerry Turner to discuss Grant Ellis saying “I love you” to both of his final two women. Now, I have no problem with either of these men, but Bachelor Nation has not been kind to Clayton (re: the “Rose Ceremony from Hell”) and Gerry (after his fast Golden Bachelor divorce), so I question the decision to have them give context to Grant’s situation. Fans like this one just saw it as more filler:
this segment could’ve been an email and it should’ve gone to spam #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/bnHVUb1mmQMarch 25, 2025
Not to sound my age or anything, but I rarely watch movies that come anywhere near three hours, and on a Monday no less. If I’m dragging at work Tuesday morning, I want a better story than, “Grant was really conflicted.” As this Bachelor Nation patron put it:
Me when I realize #TheBachelorFinale is three hours long when I have a 9-5 job to wake up for tomorrow. #thebachelor #bachelornation pic.twitter.com/MOjX3bnr6OMarch 25, 2025
The thing is, ABC has proven it can be done. Joan Vassos’ finale on The Golden Bachelorette was a tight 90 minutes, and maybe we didn’t get 17 ads for The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives or 25 minutes of Jesse Palmer telling us to grab our tissues because he was about to make an announcement that would change our lives forever, but I sure didn’t miss them.
Just to prove I’m not the only cranky millennial out there, here are some other social media comments I came across:
- But 3 hours of this? 🤦♀️ – @johnson_jadelyn
- ABC have to have these dumb fillers to make it 3 hours – @cerenitey
- Three hour Bachelor finale. There’s just no need for this. – @MikeNash15
- Does this have to be 3 hours? Asking for a friend – @TVShowsAce
- I feel like I say this every season but 3 hours is completely ridiculous – @diajahk
- There is no reason why this finale is 3 hours long, really dragging out this proposal. – @Melisa__C
- This finale could’ve been an hour – @dimonesryder
We’ll have to wait to see if the powers that be at ABC hear our cries for a more manageable finale runtime. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping our eyes out for that Bachelor in Paradise Season 10 premiere date, as the spinoff returns this summer.
