Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that Jesse Palmer switched up the go-to rose ceremony lingo during a recent episode of The Bachelor — and it wasn’t a mistake.
After lead Joey Graziadei handed out his final rose of the evening during the Tuesday, February 13, episode, Palmer, 45, appeared on screen to bid farewell to Edwina Dorbor and Allison Hollinger.
Rather than saying the iconic phrase, “Take a moment and say your goodbyes,” Palmer told the women, “Take as much time as you need, and when you’re ready, say your goodbyes.”
“The Bachelor tradition is not to be messed with, so I don’t make these choices lightly,” Palmer recalled of his decision to Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday, February 14. “As I walked up to Joey and the podium, I could see the tension and emotion on Edwina and Allison’s faces, so I felt like offering them the courtesy to take as much time as needed.”
Palmer previously hinted at his line switch-up during an episode of season 28’s The Bachelor earlier this month, where he was seen lounging in a pool float and eating chicken while rehearsing his remarks. After trying various inflections of the sentence, “Ladies, it’s the final rose tonight,” he poked fun at the iconic saying.
“Why do we even say final rose tonight? It’s so obvious, there’s one rose left on the table. Everybody knows that. Why do I have to go in and tell everybody? It’s a waste of time,” he joked.
When testing out various ways of telling the unlucky women goodbye, he said, “Ladies, I’m sorry, kick rocks,” and “Show’s over, ladies, beat it.”
Tuesday’s episode of the hit ABC reality series found Joey, 28, and the contestants traveling from Malta to Spain. After feelings continued to grow between Joey and the remaining women, he had an honest conversation with Daisy Kent about how he’s navigating it all — and admitted he struggles “at times.”
“I’m always there and trying to express and be there for their feelings. I think my wife is here, and until I figure that out, it feels wrong that I’m expressing and talking through those feelings with someone else. But the root of it is right and I have the right intentions, and I mean the best through it,” Joey said. “What I always go back to and what helped me through this on the other side too is — what better way to have confidence in the relationship than to have the person choose you in the sea of all these amazing people?”
Daisy agreed with his remarks, and confessed she didn’t think the competition would be as hard as she’s found it, saying, “I didn’t think coming into here that there would be so many amazing people.”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
