‘The Golden Bachelor’ recap: Gerry and Faith have heartbreaking reunion as the women tell all

On this week’s The Golden Bachelor, we learned who Gerry said goodbye to after last week’s cliffhanger, which saw him leave the rose ceremony when confronted with the difficult decision to bid one of the women farewell.

After handing out a rose to Leslie on last week’s episode, we finally learned during The Women Tell All that Gerry gave his rose to Theresa, and that he had to say a heartbreaking goodbye to Faith, to whom he said “I love you” during their hometown date.

On The Women All, Faith also shared how hard it was to “open myself up for love.”

“Going into this, I really thought, ‘OK, if I feel anything at all, I’m gonna go all-in,'” she said. “And it shattered me.”

“I don’t know if anyone else could have broke down my walls,” Faith told Gerry. “You could have walked off with me right then and I would have been yours for the rest of your life. I felt that safe and I never felt that way.”

Gerry told Faith that the love he had for her was “genuine,” and that his “heart went out” to Faith the night they said goodbye. Gerry added that the part of their journey that makes him feel bad is that he promised Faith’s family that he would protect her heart. “I didn’t do that,” Gerry said. But Faith assured Gerry that she knows he didn’t intentionally break her heart. “I know your heart is true in all the good ways,” she told him.

At the very end, Gerry told Faith, “I am a better person for meeting you.”

Earlier, the women on Gerry’s season reflected on their experience on the show, including Joan, who left during the second week due to a family emergency.

“Gerry helped make me feel visible because he looked at me and he cared about what I was saying and he wanted to get to know me,” she said. “And it’s about that whole conversation about being invisible. Society makes us feel like we’ve had our chance, and we’ve raised our children and it’s time now to support the next generation and take a back seat.”

“Gerry opened my heart,” Joan continued. “I did think a couple of times maybe I would come around the corner coming home from work and he would be sitting on my front porch.”

In addition to Joan, audiences also got a closer look during The Women Tell All at Ellen‘s journey, which ended in week four in a heartbreaking moment during a rose ceremony, just a week after she told Gerry her true feelings. Ellen said saying goodbye to Gerry was “one of the most emotional and difficult times of my life.” Yet despite the heartbreak she endured, she said she has “gratitude for Gerry.”

“I can enjoy my life and live it to the utmost and find happiness,” she said. “To tell you the truth, I can’t wait to get started.”

The women that remain on The Golden Bachelor are Theresa and Leslie. Up next week: fantasy suites.

The Golden Bachelor returns Thursday at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC, and streaming on Hulu.