The Fantasy Suites in 'The Bachelor' Can Often Turn From Fantasies Into Nightmares

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 28, Episode 9 of The Bachelor.

During Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor, many of our favorite women have come and gone. But after a dramatic Fantasy Suites episode with his Final Three women, fans of The Bachelor want to know what really goes down behind closed doors. Every season, it seems like something happens during Fantasy Suites that affects the final outcome.

However, because of the off-camera nature of Fantasy Suites, there’s no way to know what actually happens. While some former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants have spoken about what goes on behind closed doors, we need to know the truth. So what happens in Fantasy Suites?

While it’s strongly hinted that contestants have sex for the first time during Fantasy Suites, which is where it gets its name from, that’s not always the case. Before we get into the nitty gritty of what typically happens, a brief explanation of Fantasy Suites is that after a 1-on-1 date during the Final Three, the season lead can invite the contestant to spend a night with them in a “Fantasy Suite.”

If the contestant says no, then they’re self-eliminating from the show so that rarely happens. In Joey’s season of The Bachelor, contestants from The Golden Bachelor came on to advise his Final Three before heading into the suites. Unfortunately for Kelsey, Leslie was still recovering from her near-perfect Fantasy Suite that turned into a rejection, and she advised Kelsey to protect herself.

Whatever may have happened off-screen, Kelsey was left with a lot of anxiety, despite a seemingly idyllic breakfast. So she wrote a note to Joey after their Fantasy Suite that just said, “We need to talk,” which are basically the worst four words anyone could hear in a relationship. Typically, relationships get real during the Fantasy Suite as that’s when contestants spend the most time together throughout the entire process.

In fact, more often than not, the contestants don’t actually get intimate with one another. Many like to use the time alone and off-camera to get to know each other more deeply. For example, Bachelorette Andi Dorfman told People, “We spent the evening swapping stories, laughing until our stomachs hurt.

“We talked about our future, our beliefs and our goals in life. We were in mid-conversation when the sun came up, beaming through the sheer window panels of our bungalow,” which insinuates that they didn’t actually get intimate before getting engaged at the end of Andi’s season.

On the other hand, Hannah Brown made it very clear what happened in the fantasy suite when one of her suitors, Luke, had an issue with Hannah getting physical in the suite with anyone. She famously retorted, “I had sex and Jesus still loves me." Beyond that, she added, “We f--ked in a windmill. And guess what? We did it a second time."

Of course, some of the show’s most dramatic moments have come from contestants deciding whether or not to have sex in the Fantasy Suite. The season lead and suitor need to be on the same page about sex. But the biggest issue comes when a lead has sex with their first choice and then continues to get intimate with the other two women or men, as it can be interpreted as a “last hurrah.”

Regardless of what exactly happens in Fantasy Suites, they can be a turning point for the lead to see how their Final Three act when the cameras aren’t rolling. Are they more or less comfortable together? What are their conversations really like? What do they want to talk about that they didn’t talk about on television?

That’s what really happens behind closed doors … and if it naturally leads to sex, then that’s even better!