Why Wasn't Teddi At The Bachelor In Paradise Reunion?

Once Teddi Wright decided to leave Bachelor in Paradise, she didn’t waste any time. Though she and Andrew Spencer went on the first date of Season 8, the seemingly promising couple didn’t make it much further than the first rose ceremony. Questioning her feelings for Andrew — and her place on the ABC reality series, in general — Teddi self-eliminated and, even more surprisingly, secretly left Mexico without saying goodbye to her friends and castmates. Given the nature of Teddi’s exit, it’s not entirely shocking that she wasn’t at the BiP Season 8 reunion, but here’s what we know about her reasoning.

First of all, it seems like the experience led her to move on from the show entirely, at least based on an Oct. 5 Instagram post. She noted in a cryptic caption that she was “proud of learning” two things: “leaving environments that are cruel to me & the people around me” and “sticking to my boundaries no matter how many times people in authority try to cross them.” Teddi also added that she was “excited for this next chapter and what the rest of the year will bring.”

She seems to have plenty of support from Bachelor Nation, too. “Love that you escaped a toxic situation before it became much worse. Lessons to live by,” Kendall Long commented, while Serene Russell added, “I love you dearly . . . I cannot wait to see where life takes you next.”

Later in the season, Andrew also went home after admitting he still had feelings for Teddi. Though fans didn’t get to see them hash things out on the reunion, Andrew had already teased that he reached out to Teddi by the time the episode aired. “I mean, we shared a couple texts, nothing serious,” he revealed on a recent episode of Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo’s Talking it Out with Bachelor Nation podcast. “I just really wanted to just get a chance to have a conversation with her. You know, I just want to be friends at the end of the day. We went through this experience together, we spent some time together, we laughed a lot together, so I just don’t want her to just completely be out of my life in that way.”

Another motive for contacting her? “I also wanted to just be there for her,” he added. “I know it wasn’t ... the easiest time for her on the show, and [I] just let her know, ‘You still have a friend in me, you still have an ally, you’re not by yourself.’ And that was just pretty much it.”

As for whether or not there’s any hope for them rekindling their spark in the future, Andrew said that the ball is in Teddi’s court. “I don’t think I would ever reach out to her again. I think I did that, and that was it,” he explained. “But if I ever met her in an organic place and we have a couple chats, I guarantee I’d be a lot better than I was on the beach. And I would be a lot smoother, and I would definitely shoot my shot again. But anything over social media, over text, there’s no way I’d reach out. It’d be coming from her.”