“Hello. Nick.”
And that is how you stage a surprise visit on The Bachelor. In Monday night’s episode, Nick Viall received quite the shock when he opened his hotel room door to find none other than Andi Dorfman, the first Bachelorette to turn him down, standing there, one hand on her hip, just waiting to give him a piece of her mind. Andi’s return was surprising, for sure, but she’s far from the first surprise visitor to show up unannounced during a season to throw the Bachelor or Bachelorette for a loop.
Of course, Nick himself is the arguably the most famous surprise visitor in the franchise’s history, turning up on a group date during Kaitlyn Bristowe‘s season in an attempt to join the show after connecting with the Bachelorette over social media prior to her leaving to begin filming. (Kaitlyn allowed it, with Nick making it to her final two.)
But he actually wasn’t the first contestant to pull that move—though he was the most successful.
Kacie Boguskie is another contestant with a history of being a Bachelor moth to the mansion’s flame, showing up after Ben Flajnik eliminated her just to warn him about eventual winner Courtney Robertson (epic fail there), and then showed up to try and compete during Sean Lowe‘s season of The Bachelor, but Sean didn’t feel a connection and sent her home.
Kacie B. wasn’t the only contestant before Nick to return for another shot at love with a different lead, as Shawntel Newton, a competitor during Brad Womack‘s second go-around, attempted to join Ben Flajnik’s season after they had a brief Twitter fling (A popular thing in the Bachelor world, apparently!), but he felt it would be unfair to the rest of the women to allow her to join.
In JoJo Fletcher‘s season premiere, former Bachelor Jake Pavelka, apparently a family friend of JoJo’s (?!) showed up in a lame attempt to create an OMG-moment. Oof, when Jake Pavelka, he who is oh-so-grateful for the existence of Juan Pablo Galavis for the sole reason of saving him from being most-hated Bachelor, showed up in the premiere, just to wish his family friend JoJo good luck, we all cringed due to secondhand mortification.
“I had no clue what to expect, that was a total surprise to me,” JoJo told E! News after the episode aired. “I was like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ A part of me thought, this guy is kind of a brother to me, what is he doing here? And there was that moment where he stopped and was like, ‘I want to find love…for you.’ But it was nice to see him.”
At least one person thought so?
Speaking of Jake, during his season, Ali Fedotowsky, eventual Bachelorette, was forced to leave the competition after her job threatened to fire her if she didn’t return. However, she did try to come back (via a phone call), but was rebuffed by Jake. (Count your blessings?)
Other contestants who attempted to win back the affection of the lead include two men on Ashley Herbert‘s season: Villain Bentley Williams, who decided to leave the show, but then showed up at the hotel in Hong Kong and asked to see Ashley, and Ryan Park, who was eliminated in week seven, he showed up during the overnight dates episode asking for one more chance. She told them both, ‘boy, bye.’
Of course, surprise visits aren’t limited to members of Bachelor Nation, as Desiree Hartsock‘s season was memorably crashed by Stephanie…the girlfriend of one of the contestants, Brian Jarosinki.
But no surprise could top the one that awaited Nick himself in the premiere, when Liz Sandoz, the maid-of-honor at Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert‘s wedding whom Nick had a one night stand with, stepped out of the limo, hoping for another chance with the Bachelor…after choosing not to give him her number after their night together.
Surprise, indeed.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
