The former Bachelor clearly isn't over his ex.
It's been over six months since Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell announced their split, but the former Bachelor clearly still isn't ready to move on.
Only ET has an exclusive sneak peek at Tuesday's episode of Bachelor Winter Games, in which Higgins breaks down in tears while confiding in host Chris Harrison that he's scared to put himself out there romantically after his breakup.
"Watching you over the past week, I don't see you really getting involved in the romance here. I see a guy who is kind of drowning here, and I know it's not you," Harrison tells Higgins in the clip.
"The last time I was here, I did think I was walking out of this with somebody who it was going to last forever [with]. Coming back to a place like this brings up a lot of weird memories," Higgins explains. "To try to engage in relationships here, and know that the last time I did this, it was one of the best moments of my life... my fear is not entering into a relationship. My fear is not pursuing somebody. My fear is that if I were to be broken again, I'm not full enough right now to recover from that."
But Higgins' big split from Bushnell isn't the only thing holding him back. According to the 29-year-old reality star, fans' interest in his past relationship has only made things worse.
"Then you have all the comments coming in, not even mean, not even intentional, but nobody realizes how real it was. They say, 'Did you really love her? Did you really care?'" he describes, struggling to hold back tears. "I actually get emotional."
Watch the full clip in the video player above.
Higgins and Bushnell were together for a year and a half before calling it quits last May. In an interview with ET in August, Bushnell said that the breakup left her feeling "alone."
"But I think that's good," she described. "I think that's good to feel things, and I think it's good to go through things by yourself."
Bushnell said it was hard to "pinpoint" what went wrong in her relationship with Higgins. "I don't even know if anything went wrong; I think it just came to a point where, obviously you're engaged, so the next step is marriage. When it came to talking about marriage, it didn't feel completely right," she explained.
The blonde beauty has moved on with a new man, Devin Antin, and Higgins genuinely hoped to the do the same on Winter Games.
"I am ready to find love again. It takes a while. It's not an easy process. It's still one that I'm sure has its shakiness, and I probably haven't thought through that process or dealt with all the emotions to fall back in love, but I am ready," he told ET before the season began. "I'm excited for it. I feel more ready today than I did two years ago."
Bachelor Winter Games airs Tuesday, Feb. 20, and holds its finale on Thursday, Feb. 22.
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