Advertisement

Jesse Palmer Gives on Zach Shallcross's 'Decisive' Choice to Send Tahzjuan Hawkins Home After the Group Date

Jesse Palmer is sharing all the details behind Zach Shallcross's decision to send Tahzjuan Hawkins home on Monday night's episode of The Bachelor.

As part of the episode, franchise alumnae Tahzjuan, Victoria Fuller and Courtney Robertson made a guest appearance to help Zach, 26, navigate through the first group date of the season, which hosted by rapper Latto.

Halfway through, Tahzjuan (who first appeared on Colton Underwood's season of The Bachelor and later on Bachelor in Paradise), expressed an interest in joining his season, saying Zach had "a really good head on your shoulders ... and so, I would love to add myself to the mix. Just wanted to see where you're at."

Zach decided to send her home "rather quickly," as Palmer recalls, which endeared him to many of the women in the house.

"I think [other people] in Zach's position, they may have played it a little bit and sort of gone around the room asking different women what their opinion would be if in fact he did decide to bring another woman into the mansion," shared Palmer, 44, on Tuesday's episode of the PEOPLE Every Day podcast. "And Zach sort of made the decision himself."

RELATED: 'Bachelor' Alum Tahzjuan Hawkins Tells Zach Shallcross She 'Would Love to Add Myself' to His Season

TAHZJUAN HAWKINS, VICTORIA FULLER, COURTNEY ROBERTSON, ZACH SHALLCROSS, LATTO
TAHZJUAN HAWKINS, VICTORIA FULLER, COURTNEY ROBERTSON, ZACH SHALLCROSS, LATTO

ABC/Craig Sjodin

Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday.

Palmer told PEOPLE Every Day host Janine Rubenstein that he shared many of the contestants' questions about her motives.

"Obviously I wanna be careful," he said. "I don't speak for Tahzjuan, but I think she certainly knew who Zach was leading in, and obviously she had seen some of Gabby and Rachel's season. She was very, very aware."

Ultimately, he applauded Zach's handling of the situation.

RELATED: Bachelor Zach Shallcross Leaves 1 Woman 'Heartbroken' After Sending Her Home Ahead of First Rose Ceremony

ZACH SHALLCROSS, JESSE PALMER
ZACH SHALLCROSS, JESSE PALMER

Craig Sjodin/ABC

"Zach sort of gets put in a bit of a difficult situation, and I think the one thing to look back on all that, you know, to me it really stood out was just how decisive Zach was in the moment," he said. "You know, he didn't let any of the drama sort of fester and manifest itself, especially with the other women."

Seems in keeping with Zach's promise to dial down the drama (and up the emotion) on his season.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

PEOPLE Every Day can be streamed daily on multiple platforms including iHeartMedia,Apple podcastsSpotifyStitcherAmazon Music.