Colton Underwood’s ‘Cougar’ Elyse Dehlbom Explains Why She Skipped ‘The Bachelor’ Special ‘Women Tell All’

Colton Underwood came face to face with 20 of his former Bachelor girlfriends for the recent “Women Tell All” special, but one memorable lady skipped the reunion. Elyse Dehlbom, the early Bachelor contestant who joked that at age 31 she was a “cougar” for 26-year-old Colton, was nowhere to be seen at the WTA taping. The absence of Elyse was noticeable, considering she was one of several women who left Colton Underwood’s season on her own instead of being sent home by him.

While some could speculate that Elyse was simply done with the show after breaking Colton’s heart, that was not the case. According to E! News, Elyse Dehlbom had a very good reason for skipping the show, and it had everything to do with a wedding.

Elyse, a makeup artist from Alaska, took to Instagram to explain that she had already committed to attend a friend’s wedding on the same day the “Women Tell All” taped in February. The Bachelor alum also shared a video of herself at the wedding getting smacked in the face during the bride’s bouquet toss. Elyse joked that she missed the “Women Tell All” because she was “too busy getting slapped in the face by the potential for my own happily ever after.”

On the night of the “WTA” taping last month, Bachelor contestant Onyeka Ehie also told Entertainment Tonight that Elyse was more than an attendee and was actually a member of the wedding party for the nuptials for one of her best friends.

“She was in the wedding in Mexico,” Onyeka said. “This wedding was like, before the show even aired or started filming. She was like, ‘I have a wedding this weekend in February. I have a feeling ‘Women Tell All’ is gonna be then.'”

While she missed The Bachelor update show, Elyse Dehlbom’s time on the ABC reality show was very memorable. As fans may recall, during an on-stage storytelling group date, Elyse, 31, revealed that she has a history of dating men who are older than her and that Colton, who was 26-years-old at the time, was the first younger man she’d ever dated. Elyse also referred to The Bachelor contestants 27 and older as the “cougar den.” She scored a group date rose from Colton on the storytelling date.

Elyse Dehlbom went on to have an amazing one-on-one date with Colton, which included taking a group of kids to a San Diego amusement park. But two weeks after they bonded on what she described as a “romance novel” date, the redhead beauty decided to end things with Colton while in Thailand because she was having a hard time seeing him date— and kiss— other women on the show. Elyse also admitted she couldn’t see herself accepting a proposal from Colton after so little time alone with him.

“I wish I could just say that there was something off between us, but I’d be lying,” Elyse told The Bachelor star, per E! News. “I literally can’t accept a proposal after a few months of sharing your time and attention with other people. I can’t do it. This isn’t working for me. I have to leave.”

After her self-eviction from The Bachelor, Elyse Dehlbom admitted she regretted the rash decision, calling herself “stupid” for leaving Colton.

The Bachelor finale airs Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC.