‘Bachelor’ Contestant Exits Show Before Big Date For Really Painful Reason

Beverly Ortega wanted to give her heart to “Bachelor” star Grant Ellis, but her appendix had other ideas.

The 30-year-old insurance salesperson was all set to go on a romantic one-on-one on Monday’s episode but had to bow out and leave the show.

While Ortega’s fellow contestant Parisa Shifteh mentioned Ortega’s absence, she didn’t say why Ortega was gone.

“Today was supposed to be Beverly’s one-on-one with Grant. But yesterday morning she was very sick. And today we found out that she will not be coming back to the house,” Shifteh said.

Some might have speculated that Ortega had gotten cold feet or just wasn’t into Ellis, but that was far from the truth, she said on Tuesday’s episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast.

The reason was more painful, Ortega told hosts Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.

She said she woke on the morning of the date and her stomach was hurting.

“I’m like, ‘OK, maybe I just need to go to the bathroom or the food didn’t sit well.’ And I started throwing up,” she said, describing her pain as “excruciating.”

Ortega said she threw up for 12 hours and wasn’t sure if she had food poisoning, but her whole stomach was hurting.

“So it’s not like one side was hurting. I didn’t think it was anything serious,” she said.

But after going to the hospital and being checked by doctors, Ortega was told she had appendicitis and needed surgery stat.

“I am a crier. I am emotional. (But I) did not cry one time. I was like, ‘OK, my family isn’t here. My friends aren’t here. I’m about to have major surgery on an organ,’” she recalled. “I already, in 2018, got my gallbladder removed. Now my appendix is being removed. I’m like, losing organs left and right.”

It took Ortega around six weeks to recover emotionally from the surprise surgery.

“Physically, obviously, I was OK, but emotionally I was not. I left with the ‘what if’” about Ellis, she admitted.

“Obviously we were building a connection. He saw and felt exactly what I was seeing and feeling. And I know they didn’t show a lot of our moments, but we did have a lot of cute little moments,” she said.

Ortega said she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to the Bachelor and hopes the crew told him why she had to leave.

“I wanted to stay on, but I think it was best for me to just go home and recover because, as you know, eventually they start flying places, so it wasn’t safe or smart for me to fly as I’m recovering from a surgery,” she explained.

Ortega did tell her hosts that she’d be happy to return to the franchise by being on “Bachelor In Paradise” when it returns later this summer.

You can hear the whole interview below.