Tayshia Adams happily accepted a proposal from Zac Clark during the Tuesday, December 22, finale of The Bachelorette — but not before she had to say goodbye to Ivan Hall and Ben Smith.
The 30-year-old former phlebotomist cut ties with Ivan, 28, first during Tuesday’s episode. While fans were confused by their breakup, Tayshia told Us Weekly during an exclusive interview with Zac, 36, on Wednesday, December 23, that things took a turn in the fantasy suite.
“We utilized fantasy suites for what they’re really meant for. Yes, you know, there’s a stigma behind it. But also, it’s an opportunity to have conversations that you might not want to have on camera,” Tayshia explained to Us. “And we had a lot of conversations about what we thought our future would look like, what it looked like raising kids and our beliefs and everything like that. So, religion is one thing that we did talk about, but we talked about many other things. And I feel like there were reasons why we both felt like, you know, it might not align.”
After Ivan’s exit, Tayshia invited Ben to stick around and meet her family. The West Point graduation was previously sent packing after the hometown dates during the December 15 episode, but he returned during the Monday, December 21, episode to confess his love for her.
“It was a lot of coming and going, but I will say I don’t regret anything,” Tayshia told Us about inviting Ben back after Brendan Morais eliminated himself from the competition. “I think if that’s how I felt in the moment, then it’s what I needed to do in order to get the closure that I needed. And although it kind of made things maybe a little sticky at times, I mean, sometimes you have to do the sticky things to figure out what you really want and to be competent in your decision at the end of the day.”
After spending time with her family, Tayshia told Us that she knew Zac was The One. As a result, she knew she had to let Ben go before he picked out an engagement ring.
“I think you’ve seen it play out throughout my entire journey, like, the second I feel like, I am not there, where the other person’s heart is, I have to tell them,” she explained. “I would hate to be strung along and be led on to believe that I have an opportunity or a chance to be with someone when they’ve already made their mind up. And that has happened to me in the past. I would never want to do that to somebody. So, I did what I had to do when I figured it out.”
Zac subsequently proposed to Tayshia.
“I didn’t know that they typically send two guys up there!” the addiction specialist told Us about proposal day. “That’s borderline not nice.”
Tayshia then injected, “I didn’t do that to you!”
Zac concluded, “I was feeling good about where we were at [that day]. I’ll say that.”
