This week, the latest Bachelorette, Becca Kufrin, surprised fans by sending Jason home before spending a night together in the Fantasy Suite.
Longtime fans of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette know that these private rooms are a couple's last chance to "get to know each other" before the season's lead crowns a winner.
But, as former leads reveal, spending a night alone together is not always as romantic as it looks on TV.
"Most of the time there's intimacy involved."
For most contestants, what happens behind the closed doors of the Fantasy Suite stays behind closed doors.
So fans were upset when Arie Luyendyk Jr. openly discussed his night with Bachelorette Andi Dorfman on the show's After the Rose special.
"Knowing how in love with you I was, if you weren't in love with me, I'm just not sure why you made love with me," he asked her.
Dofrman called his comments "below the belt" and said Luyendyk was rude for discussing such a private night on TV.
But Dorfman, who competed on Juan Pablo's season of The Bachelor, exposed what the Fantasy Suite is really like in an essay for The Hollywood Reporter.
"Most of the time there's intimacy involved," she wrote. "Almost every Bachelor has sex with everyone he goes into the Fantasy Suites with."
"If you're not having sex," she went on to explain, "you're probably not getting chosen, unless you're waiting for religious reasons or personal reasons."
"I'm surprised there hasn't been a Bachelor baby!"
Past contestants say that not only is hanky panky allowed during the Fantasy Suite dates, it's encouraged.
Each contestant gets a rigorous physical exam that includes STI tests, and female contestants say producers asked if they were taking birth control.
As for the suite itself, it seems to differ from season to season whether the show supplies protection.
But Courtney Robertson said she was "surprised there hasn't been a Bachelor baby" after spending a night in the suite with Bachelor Ben Flajnik.
Jojo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers, now engaged, also weren't shy when People asked if couples are allowed to get frisky in the suite.
"Yes!" they answered together.
"We're going to be honest," said Fletcher, "we're not lying."
"I know what "˜fantasy' is implying, and I'm not totally comfortable with that."
Not every contestant is so enthusiastic about spending a night with the lead, or even wants to.
Courtney Robertson said that meeting Ben Flajnik in person was the real prize for her.
"It was like, "˜Wow, we're alone for the first time!'" she told Radar Online.
"I really got to hear his voice, how he felt about me. You get to see the true personality come through a little more, because people aren't watching what they say as much"
And if it's not meant to be? Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky said the show's lead does not need to fake it.
She said her connection with Chris Lambton was not good before they visited the suite together.
"I asked one of the producers to call and make up an excuse for me to be able to leave the room," she said.
"So if that's happening to you "” if the Bachelor's leaving the room "” you're probably not getting chosen."
And, of course, leads are allowed to turn down these special dates in the first place. Bachelorette Emily Maynard turned down all three of hers.
"I know what "˜fantasy' is implying, and I'm not totally comfortable with that," she wrote in a blog post.
"Women really felt like it was creepy and weird."
If you're starting to think that these Fantasy Suite dates are just plain bizarre, you're right.
Even the show's producer, Scott Jeffress, admitted to Vanity Fair that most women "felt like it was creepy and weird."
Plenty of leads deal with the dates by using it as an excuse to relax and chat off-camera - which is rare during the two months spent filming the series.
"We spent the evening swapping stories, laughing until our stomachs hurt," Dorfman said about her date with her future fiance, Josh Murray.
"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."
Contestants say that even when things don't get hot and heavy, producers just edit the footage to make it seem that way.
In Rachel Lindsay's case, she blamed the 2016 presidential election for messing with her mojo the night she stayed with Nick Viall.
The contestant said she just couldn't "get in the right headspace."
"I did nothing! I did nothing but sleep!" she admitted.
Are you surprised to learn what filming the Fantasy Suites is really like?
Read more stories about your favorite TV shows:
- Teen Mom stars announce they're leaving the show, days later one gets arrested.
- Outpouring of grief as 3rd Rock From The Sun actors say goodbye to their co-star.
- Roseanne announces in talk show in bizarre viral video.
[H/T: People, Flare, Vanity Fair, ET]