'I fell in love with Colton.'
Caelynn Miller-Keyes is opening up about her time on The Bachelor.
ET's Lauren Zima caught up with the former contestant on Colton Underwood's season of the reality show at Friday's taping of The Bachelor: The Women Tell All. The former Miss North Carolina spoke about her time on the show, specifically the allegations from some of the other women that she wasn't ready for marriage.
"It still frustrates me. It still infuriates me," she said. "Because, if you watch it back, I fell in love with Colton. I was fully in love with Colton. I went home and told my parents, 'Listen, it's me. I'm gonna be engaged in a couple weeks. Meet your future brother, or son-in-law, or brother-in-law, sister-in-law.'"
"I was completely blindsided," Caelynn added of being sent home earlier this week following her hometown date. "For people to undermine my relationship and say that I'm not ready for marriage is infuriating because you can't tell someone if they're ready for marriage or not... Nobody knows if you're ready for marriage except for you."
Caelynn was blindsided when Colton sent her home on Monday, given that she had been very clear about her feelings for the former NFL player. The same can't be said for her friend and fellow contestant, Cassie, who was tight-lipped about where her heart lay.
"I was surprised," Caelynn said of being sent home instead of Cassie. "Cassie and I, the way that we managed our best friendship so well is because we separated our friendship and our relationship. So she didn't even talk that much about her relationship, but she did say that we both kind of felt that my relationship was a little more further advanced than her's."
"So I was surprised that I was sent home and not her," she added. "But he knows what he wants."
When ET spoke with Colton, he said that he didn't think the Cassie and Caelynn comparison was a "fair" one to draw, though he did admit that that rose ceremony was "the hardest" one that he had all season.
"I think you can ask why Hannah, why Tayshia and why Cassie over Caelynn," he said. "One thing that I wish I could have articulated more to Caelynn tonight: It was nothing [about] where our relationship was. It was where the others were."
Since her time on the show, Caelynn has "taken some time and tried to heal my heart," but it hasn't been easy.
"It has been lonely. There's no one you can really talk to about it," she lamented. "It's been the hardest heartbreak I've ever had to deal with and I thought I was over it, but tonight just reopened old wounds... I don't think that I'm still in love with Colton. I just think that I'm still processing this deep, deep love that I had for him."
As for if she may try her luck at love again, this time as the Bachelorette, Caelynn said that she has "not been in those discussions."
"We'll see," she teased of being the franchise's next leading lady. "... Tonight was rough. The process was rough. I don't know."
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. The Women Tell All special will air Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Join ET's Bachelor Nation Facebook group here.
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