Ames shares in his exit interview that he thought taking it slow with Ashley would be a smart move to making their relationship last, so he was completely stunned to find out that’s why she said goodbye!

Ames Brown was completely shocked when Bachelorette Ashley Hebert said goodbye to him after the hometown dates episode on July 18. He thought that by taking it slowly, he was winning Ashley’s heart — and he knew that she had already captured his. But he was dead wrong because Ashley didn’t hand him a rose.

“I felt like we had a great date. I think one thing that I think I really picked up on watching the hometown dates is that my progress with Ashley certainly was a lot slower than the other guys, but I didn’t see that as a negative necessarily,” Ames shares in his exit interview. “In fact, in many ways I was trying to take our relationship a little bit slower, because I wanted it to last forever and I think a lot of times both watching it, this show, and in real life, we see a lot of relationships that move super quick and expire just as quickly.”

Ames thought he and Ashley were right on track. “I was having an amazing time with Ashley and I thought becoming really close to her and it was a little bit slower than I guess the other relationships around us, but I felt okay about that,” he admits. “And she’s the kind of person that I really wanted to make something lasting with, so I didn’t want to rush it at all. And actually I enjoyed taking it slowly.”

Ashley had all the qualities Ames was looking for in a wife. “She’s pretty much happy about everything,” explains Ames. “She chooses difficult things in life but enjoys them. She also seems really curious about all the things we were doing and I like that in a partner, definitely somebody who wants to experience lots of fun things. We just got along. She made me very happy.”

Ames family also approved of Ashley. “I think my family really liked Ashley,” he says. “Seeing my family loves her as much as I do was pretty compelling for me. At that point my hopes that she would become a permanent part of my life were becoming a little bit more realistic, so that’s when I started really potentially falling in love with her.”

“Under the magnolia tree, I was totally feeling — there was no uncertainty that I was getting very close to her,” remembers Ames. “I felt definitely like [there were] feelings of love under the magnolia tree or in the day leading up to the elevator ride or in the elevator of course.”

Ames thought he’d get a rose. “I am very, very embarrassed to say that was the only rose ceremony I went into and I thought ‘Oh my God, it’s almost a sure thing,’” confesses Ames. “That also made it a lot more painful the next day.”

It crushed him that Ashley said goodbye. “It was very, very, very painful surrounding that and for the weeks following our breakup or whatever that’s called when that happens,” reveals Ames. “That was painful but I would do it [again].”

Today, Ames wounded heart has healed and he no longer has feelings for Ashley. “I wish her the best but — and it’s taken me a couple weeks — but I just really would like her to, I guess at this point the right tense would be have chosen the right guy,” says Ames.

BFFs — were you shocked to see Ames sent home?

- Lindsey DiMattina

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