Home may be where the heart is, but not all of the families met during hometowns made Zach Shallcross feel welcome.
Zach, 26, visited with Gabi, Ariel, Charity and Kaity's families on Monday night's episode of The Bachelor in hopes of learning more about his potential future wives and their loved ones.
GABI'S HOMETOWN
First up, Zach traveled to Vermont to see Gabi. They started the day off by tapping a maple tree and doing a blind taste test of four different syrups — three maple ones and one non-maple syrup that Zach would have to identify.
"Is our love fraudulent? Because if he can't taste it, I don't know," Gabi, 26, joked in an on-camera interview.
Whatever it means for their relationship, Zach called the fake maple syrup the best one. "Oh my God!" Gabi said. "You just shot me."
That didn't stop Gabi and Zach from making out in the woods before meeting her family.
When the couple sat down with Gabi's siblings and parents, they recounted their world travels so far. Then Gabi's older brother Evan pulled Zach to ask "what your full intentions are" with the account executive.
"When I got to know Gabi, there's a comfort level that when we spent time together, when I look at her in the eyes, it's just like, wow, you are someone I could see a future with," Zach said. "I don't have a doubt about that."
Evan told Zach that Gabi "obviously likes you." He continued, "If she's putting herself out there, that's already huge for Gabi. That's not very normal."
Gabi told her sister she "could be falling in love soon" with Zach, and she reiterated the same sentiment to her father.
Zach spoke with Gabi's mom, asking her, "How can I be the best I can be to support her?"
She told Zach that Gabi wants someone "who can probably help ground her and make her feel secure and safe."
Zach assured, "I will always act with your daughter's best intentions."
Gabi felt like the meeting went well. "I can see a future with you more than I ever have," she told Zach at the end of the night.
She also cried over the idea of not seeing him for a week while he went on three more hometown dates. "Have trust in us," Zach urged.
ARIEL'S HOMETOWN
Next, Zach headed to New York City to see Ariel and her family.
The two of them started the day with a food tour, sampling pizza and pastrami sandwiches at a Jewish deli.
"Carbs are so good," Zach declared to Ariel, 28.
Then Ariel took him to a coffee shop that turned out to be a speakeasy bar. Over espresso martinis, Ariel told Zach about her family's immigration story, in which her parents came to the United States to escape being persecuted for their religion. Accordingly, Ariel is a first-generation American.
Ariel brought Zach to meet her parents and brother Bobby at a Brooklyn winery. She and Zach talked about their one-on-one date in Estonia, where they met a nude couple in the sauna.
Bobby chatted with Zach and asked the senior account executive why Ariel should choose him. Zach paused before saying, "I have a pretty big heart and the person that I end up with at the end of this has my whole entire heart, and I will do anything under the sun to let that be known."
Zach also said he believes, "I'm a pretty good cook."
Bobby wondered how Zach saw Ariel's Jewish family fitting in with his own. "If two people really love each other, families will make it work," Zach replied.
Bobby continued to drill Zach, questioning whether the reality star knew Ariel's birthday or middle name. (He didn't.)
"If you don't know somebody's birthday, how do you really know a person?" Bobby asked.
Zach disagreed. "I think if you love somebody, and you have that feeling, why don't you have the rest of your relationship or the rest of your life together to get to know the smaller details?" he said.
Ariel tried to convince her brother of her love for Zach, too. "When you look at someone, you just feel chemistry with them," Ariel said.
The tough questions for Zach continued when Ariel's dad asked him why he'd pick Ariel out over the other three remaining women.
"I have never been grilled by my family like that before," Ariel told Zach afterwards.
The marketing executive also confessed her feelings for Zach. "I am definitely falling for you," Ariel told Zach. He responded with a kiss.
CHARITY'S HOMETOWN
From there, Zach flew to Columbus, Georgia to spend time with Charity and her family.
"It's safe to say I am falling for him," Charity, 26, said in an on-camera interview.
Charity's dad David cautiously liked Zach from the jump. "They look beautiful together, but she's my baby girl," David told the cameras.
The therapist told her friends and siblings she and Zach "were on the trajectory" to falling in love.
"He's been very transparent, which I need honesty and respect that so much," Charity said.
One of her friends wondered how she'd feel if Zach didn't pick her in the end.
"If I'm not the person he chooses at the end, will it be easy? Probably not," Charity admitted. "Actually, not probably, it won't be easy. It's a risk that I'm willing to take."
Meanwhile, one of Charity's brothers asked Zach about the status of his relationships with the other women.
"What I'm doing right now is to the best of my ability, compartmentalizing everything I can," Zach said, adding that he wants to put Charity's "best intentions first."
Still, Charity's brother cautioned her. "There's other women involved," he said.
Charity told her mom that she'd been falling for Zach but felt "scared" to tell him.
"To express it and to be able to say those words is very important," her mom said.
So after Charity and Zach went line dancing, she did exactly that. "I'm honestly falling in love," Charity said to Zach.
Zach told the cameras that Charity's confession felt "amazing" to hear.
"Hearing that from her makes my heart flutter and makes me really hopeful for what could be us at the end," he added.
KAITY'S HOMETOWN
For his final hometown date, Zach met Kaity in Austin, where he also lives. Kaity, 27, recently moved to the Texas city so she asked Zach to help her settle in.
Zach and Kaity went grocery shopping and picked up some flowers before heading to her place to set up some furniture.
"There's no question that I'm falling in love with Zach," Kaity said in an on-camera interview.
Later, when they went to meet Kaity's family, the ER nurse recounted her and Zach's first one-on-one date at the museum.
Zach said he and Kaity had a connection "immediately."
"I feel really good about Zach," Kaity told her mom when they spoke privately.
She could tell her daughter and Zach connected. "I could see in her eyes that she was very smitten with you," Kaity's mom said to him.
She wanted to know if Zach loved Kaity. While he hesitated to use the L-word, Zach insisted, "I can absolutely see myself falling in love with her."
Kaity circled back with her mom to get her verdict on Zach. "He ticks all the boxes for you," she said. "There's no doubt about it. I would completely 100 percent support this moving forward if that's what you want."
Once she had her mother's approval, Kaity felt confident moving forward with Zach.
"I can see you in my family," she told him after the family meeting. "And I think it just makes it very easy to say that I'm falling in love with you."
ROSE CEREMONY
Zach summarized all four of his hometown dates to former Bachelor Sean Lowe before deciding who to send home.
"Tonight, I have to make an impossible decision and someone has to go home," Zach said at the beginning of the rose ceremony. "I want you to know that decision is solely based on what feels right in my heart with our connection."
Zach gave roses to Ariel, Kaity and Gabi, which meant saying "goodbye" to Charity.
"I hope you know from my heart this is the hardest decision I've had to make," Zach said to Charity before she left. "I've been sick to my stomach all day."
The breakup had Charity in tears.
"I took a big risk, obviously, coming here and putting my heart out on the line," she said. "And I knew that from night one the moment that you spoke and the moment that I knew it was you, I knew that this experience was going to be something incredible. It's bittersweet for sure."
"You deserve all the love," Zach said. "I couldn't give it to you."
With that, Charity wished Zach luck and made her exit.
"It burns because it doesn't make sense," Charity told the cameras. "It makes no f---ing sense to me."
The Bachelor returns Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
