‘Bachelor’ Week 4: Duke grad Zoe shares emotional moment with Grant. Did she get a rose?
The first half of “The Bachelor” has come and gone, with a Duke University graduate among the last women looking for love on the hit reality show.
The newest season started out with 25 women from around the world. Now we’re down to 10, including Zoe McGrady, a 27-year-old model and tech engineer.
Week after week, we’ve been following her journey to love with Grant Ellis (and a bit of drama along the way.)
But what happened in the latest episode? Did she run into more issues with the group? Did she get another rose?
Spoiler alert: Here’s a recap of what happened during Monday night’s episode — ending in what host Jesse Palmer called the most important rose ceremony yet.
From the mansion to Madrid
After a few weeks in the Bachelor mansion, Zoe and the other contestants headed overseas to meet Grant in Madrid.
This week, Zoe once again found herself on a group date and not a one-on-one date — which went to Dina and Sarafiena.
First, the group took a donkey ride through the town of Chinchón.
“The streets of Chinchón are just so beautiful. It’s so calm. It’s such a relaxing, romantic vibe,” Zoe told producers.
But then the girls ditched the donkeys to learn about matadors... and go head to head in a mechanical bull riding competition to win extra alone time with Grant.
One by one, each of the women took part in what Jesse Palmer called “a daring battle of bravery and balance, all in the name of love.”
While many of them only stuck it out a few seconds, that wasn’t a problem for Zoe, who used her full body to hold on to the bull’s horns — a “cheat code” she got from Alexe, who went before her.
“Zoe was a wrestler in high school. She was on the boys’ wrestling team and it looks like it,” Jesse said while Zoe was keeping a good grip on the bull.
While it came down to the two women, Zoe was named the “queen of the ring” granting her special time with Grant.
“Zoe’s the biggest competitor of this group. I knew that since she slammed me on my back showing me some wrestling moves. She’s impressive,” Grant said.
But even though she got some alone time over the sunset, Zoe later confided in Litia about how it’s hard for her to be as open during group dates.
“I’m feeling some pressure. Grant’s biggest point is emotional availability and I know I’m a little closed off. It’s something I’ve been working on. I’ve been trying to work on. I hope that he will give me that time to kind of open up,” Zoe told producers.
But after bringing up his concerns about her being stoic, Zoe was honest with Grant about why she’s struggled to be vulnerable up until this point.
“Obviously I’m a very strong person and I have been told I am a bit difficult to read but I think it’s just because of kind of how I grew up. Like just being in the South and being a person of color and being a woman who was never told that she was beautiful,” she explained to Grant privately during the evening portion of their group date.
“The reason I am so stoic and I guess hard to read — I told you I was adopted and raised in southern Virginia. It was predominantly white and it was just me and my sister, who we’re both mixed, were adopted by the same parents. Just my entire life I just always felt like the black sheep.”
“People are like, ‘Black women aren’t beautiful,’ like being Black is a problem. I’m sure I can only imagine what you’ve seen and heard, but it’s like no men were wanting to date me and combine that with the abuse that I dealt with. Like yes, I’ve shut off my emotions for most of my life and just never felt worthy of friendship, let alone a boyfriend.”
In response, Grant was very quick to reassure Zoe how glad he was she opened up to him so that he could better understand her.
“As a Black man, I could understand what she’s been through and it’s not easy knowing what she went through in her childhood,” Grant told producers. “Now seeing the woman that she’s become, and how she approaches every obstacle — that’s somebody that I could resonate with, that’s been through some struggle, because I’ve been through it.”
More group date drama
But in the end, no one got the group date rose after Grant said he needed time to think after a conversation with Carolina (pronounced Caro-lee-na) about how Juliana confronted her about still having doubts this far along in the process.
So, did Zoe get a rose from Grant?
Ultimately, Zoe did get a rose from Grant, heading into the next week as one of the seven women left.
Who got eliminated during the rose ceremony?
Of the ten women who started the week out in Madrid with Grant, here is who did not receive a rose:
- Natalie
- Parisa
During the cocktail party, Rose also self-eliminated and went back home.
What happened on previous episodes of ‘The Bachelor’?
How to watch ‘The Bachelor’
You can tune in and watch “The Bachelor” every Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC and the next day on Hulu.
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 9:28 AM with the headline "‘Bachelor’ Week 4: Duke grad Zoe shares emotional moment with Grant. Did she get a rose?."
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