Bachelor’s Lauren admits she wasn’t “mentally prepared” for her exit

Lauren Hollinger made a shocking exit on The Bachelor Season 28, but she revealed that it didn’t go the way she planned.

Lauren Hollinger appeared on The Bachelor Season 28 with her sister Allison Hollinger, and they had a competitive dynamic on the show.

As the older sister, Lauren would get jealous of her younger sister Allison when it seemed like lead Joey Graziadei was more interested in her, and was upset when he kissed Allison and not her.

Lauren went on the first wedding-themed group date, and she was emotional because she was reminded that her dad, who had recently passed away, wouldn’t be at her wedding.

At the rose ceremony cocktail party, Lauren told Joey that she was leaving the show since she didn’t have as much time with him as the other contestants.

Lauren says she could’ve handled her Bachelor exit better

On the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, Lauren admitted that her exit didn’t happen the way she expected it to, and shared if she thought about changing her mind.

“I had already made such like a scene about it, and like I said, when I’m in a bad mood, I’m in a bad mood. Looking back, like in hindsight now, I could have handled all that better. I could have done that a little different,” she explained.

“I wasn’t as mentally prepared as I thought I was for it,” Lauren added. “I thought that I was gonna breeze through this sh*t.”

Lauren also revealed details about her moment with Joey leading up to her self-elimination, including the infamous cake she requested, which wasn’t red velvet.

“He comes over and I’m like, alright, he’s like ‘Sit down,’ so I was like, ‘Okay, like, maybe I will stay.’ And then when they brought out the cake and it wasn’t it, like, I think that just set me off again and I was like, ‘Forget it, I’m leaving, I just need to leave.'”

Even though Lauren willingly agreed to be a contestant on The Bachelor knowing the process of the show, she became discouraged when she realized she was the only one not getting any time with Joey.

Lauren could make a comeback on the franchise for Bachelor In Paradise, where she might have better luck at finding love.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.