Charity Lawson, season 20 star of “The Bachelorette,” guest-hosted “The Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast on March 4, 2025 with Joe Amabile.
Before becoming “The Bachelorette,” Lawson, now married to Dotun Olubeko, was the third runner-up on Zach Shallcross’s season of “The Bachelor.”
Lawson was excited to be in the host seat. “I’ve had my fair share of turns interviewing with you, but this is a different side,” she said before diving into her analysis of the March 2 episode of the show, which saw Grant Ellis visit the final four contestants’ hometowns.
See our recap of Amabile and Lawson’s analysis of each hometown visit below.
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The cohosts questioned Grant’s energy during his visit to Juliana‘s hometown.
Amabile started off with, “Grant is giving me ‘I’m tired’ energy.”
Lawson, agreed, “His energy was like, I don’t know. I’m sorry, I love Grant, but it was giving like, nothing.”
Lawson surmised his low energy may be due to tiredness.
“This poor man is probably exhausted. I know at this point he’s beat tired,” she added.
Amabile and Lawson agreed that Grant seemed either “completely exhausted, or completely checked out.”
Amabile called Grant’s trip to a family party, at which he estimated there were “like a thousand people” in the backyard, a “nightmare.”
He emphasized how rough it would be as a lead to walk in knowing you have to make rounds with so many people.
While she acknowledged, “I think Grant and Juliana are compatible to a certain extent, and they’re very cute watching this episode,” Lawson said she felt a lack of romantic passion, and both cohosts agreed they would have liked to see “more of a spark” on the trip.
“I feel like they’re each other’s safe space. But I don’t know if it’s necessarily the good safe space. I feel like it’s the safe route or the safe option. We still have a couple weeks to go, so maybe the depth of it will progress,” she concluded.
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Lawson said she has “a soft spot” for Zoe, but both hosts agreed the activity where Zoe, a model and engineer, tried on wedding dresses felt awkward.
“The wedding dress shoot thing was a little strange,” said Amabile, before adding it was “probably arranged to makeup” for Zoe not getting a one-on-one date with Grant prior to hometowns.
The hosts went on to analyze Grant’s demeanor during the date.
Lawson thought Grant was “a little timid,” but said Zoe seemed comfortable and had “no problem stepping out of her shell.”
“I’m a reader of body language, and I was like, I don’t know if Grant’s really messing with this date,” she said.
Amabile said the one thing that really stuck out was Grant’s talk with Zoe’s sister, emphasizing Grant’s telling choice of words in saying, “I really like Zoe.”
Amabile assumed “The Bachelor” star’s use of the word “like” was his way of saying, “Yeah, I’m not choosing Zoe.”
Lawson said she thinks Grant respects Zoe, but “it’s not gonna be anything more than this. I would be really shocked.”
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Lawson and Amabile both think Grant was probably apprehensive about “going into Mormon country.”
Amabile asked his cohost whether she thinks Litia should’ve shared earlier with Grant that she is Mormon, saying he feels like “she just dropped that on him before hometowns.”
Lawson agreed the bombshell reveal was a little much, but surmised that maybe Litia didn’t think too much of it because “Grant takes religion very serious” as well.
The cohosts then discussed Grant’s visit to Litia’s “beautiful house in Wyoming.”
Amabile said, “It’s not intimate. There’s like a hundred people out front.”
“It’s insane. I was like, what is this? A congregation?” Lawson exclaimed.
Amabile called the meetup “wild” before adding, “Grant was definitely panicking. This was the day that I thought he was the most nervous going in.”
Lawson admired Grant’s family for “vocalizing that he doesn’t need to be Mormon just because they are.”
She said it seemed like the revelation took a lot of weight off his shoulders, describing his energy as “a lot looser and happier after having that conversation with the parents.”
The cohosts both agreed Grant and Litia’s relationship seems “solid” because the depth of their conversations goes beyond surface level.
“They cry like every time they talk,” Lawson observed.
Amabile said Grant is “showing up to everybody else’s houses half tired, but with Litia he’s opening up his heart.” The host called the pairing is a no-brainer, but wondered if Grant will be agreeable to Litia’s desire to have kids within the next year or two.
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The big shocker of the March 3 episode was when Dina’s parents refused to meet Grant.
Amabile said of the situation, “Her parents not being there really bothers me.”
Lawson added, “I literally started crying for her. You could tell that she was slightly disappointed. I don’t know if she knew going into hometowns that her parents weren’t gonna show up or be willing to participate.”
The host called the whole tone of the day “very sad.”
Although Dina’s family failed members declined to appear, a group of her friends fortunately stepped in to meet Grant.
“She’s a gorgeous girl, beautiful and smart, but there was nothing that was positive about it besides her friends being there and supporting her.”
Amabile said, “I can understand not liking the show and being against what it represents, but be there for your kid.”
On a brighter note, Amabile observed that the meeting with Dina’s friends was the most relaxed Grant had seemed during the hometown dates, since there was “zero pressure.”
Ultimately Dina was the contestant Grant decided to send home.
Amabile said the attorney seemed “very accepting” of her elimination.
“We didn’t see any crocodile tears,” agreed Lawson. “I love that she wasn’t super sad. It was more empowering and straight to the point.”
“Now we have Litia, Zoe, and Juliana. And the frontrunner to me right now is Litia,” said Amabile.
Charity agreed with his ranking, but reminded the former “Bachelor” that “overnights can change a lot of things.”
