Ready or not, it was time for Jess Girod and Aly Jacobs to say their goodbyes on the Monday, February 27, episode of The Bachelor.

“I definitely was blindsided,” Jess, 23, exclusively told Us Weekly of Zach Shallcross at the recent Women Tell All taping in Los Angeles. “Throughout our journey, he always reassured me and validated me. He always told me everything’s gonna be OK and to just kind of hold out, hold on. So as time went on and I wasn’t getting that special quality time with him, I was definitely in my head of like, ‘What am I missing here? There’s nothing being communicated, that’s wrong.’ So in a way, I saw it coming because it just wasn’t adding it up, but yeah, I definitely was blindsided still.”

Zach, 26, sent Jess home during the evening portion of the group date after she expressed concerns about not receiving a one-on-one date yet.

“The exit was frustrating on both ends,” she continued, telling Us that they were both “confused” during their chat. “It wasn’t a good feeling to sit with because it was like, ‘Well, what could I have done better? What could I have said better? Should I have fought for him?’ But also, I want someone to fight for me. So it was a very weird place that we left off.”

Things got tense between Jess and Zach as he didn’t understand why she was putting so much emphasis on the idea of a solo date. While he ended things mid-conversation, she told Us that it was “100 percent” a misunderstanding between the pair.

“I think he’s an amazing guy. I think he was doing the best he could in the moment. I was doing the best that I could in the moment,” she explained. “We both just weren’t understanding each other, and it doesn’t mean that I was in the right and he was in the wrong. Like, there was no right or wrong. He was speaking his truth. I was speaking mine the best that we could, so I was not ever upset with him. It was more of just, like, I wish we could have understood each other.”

During the rose ceremony later in the episode, Zach sent home Aly, 26, who also thought she would be getting a rose.

“I definitely did not see it coming. I felt like with a lot of the ladies, he did have moments where he gave them that, I don’t know, chat that he wasn’t there or he was trying to let them know that something felt off and we just never had that conversation,” she explained to Us. “I always felt confirmed and validated with him. And so it was a little bit of a shocker, but I don’t know.”

Aly added that she was still “excited” for Zach to “find his person” within the “phenomenal” group of women remaining.

“He could not have chosen a better group of women. … We were so, so, so, so, so close,” she said. “It’s just a lot of emotions at once. But I smiled and I walked up and we walk out and I don’t think you really see me cry until I get into the car, until I’m alone. And because it’s like all hitting at once that my relationship with him is done, and so that was painful. But I think everyone got to see from the moment we went on a one-on-one that we really did have a great friendship and he was wanting a friendship in the person that he met, he reiterated that multiple times — he wants a best friend. And I felt like we got to that point. It was unfortunate he couldn’t get past kind of the friendly vibes into something more romantic. And so it was painful, but I understood.”

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The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.

Reporting by Hannah Kahn

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