'Bachelorette's' Colton Underwood opens up about his virginity, being sent home

On Monday night's hometown dates episode of "The Bachelorette," Colton Underwood was sent home by Becca Kufrin, just days after he revealed to Bachelor Nation that he was a virgin.

In the previous week's episode, Underwood explained, "I spent a lot of time working on football Colton -- and I sort of forgot who personal Colton was. I only had one serious relationship coming into this and I haven't had that many girlfriends or that many dates because of sports."

While Becca eventually selected Colton to move on to this week's episode, his past connection with one of her friends, Tia, among other things proved to be too much to get him into the final three.

On Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti's "Almost Famous" podcast, the former "Bachelor" stars spoke at length about Underwood's positive character and his chance at being the next Bachelor before welcoming him on the show Monday to talk about the elimination.

After telling the listeners he was "doing good" and back in his home state of Colorado, he first opened up about his relationship with Tia, one of Becca's friends and fellow past "Bachelor" contestant.

Underwood said he only hung out with Tia once before going on the show. What happened was after following her on social media, she followed him back.

"I was watching 'Stranger Things' about a week later and put it on my [Instagram] story and she DM-ed me," he said.

After that, they spoke for about a month via text and FaceTime, until they finally hung out one weekend in January, but he left there knowing they were going their separate ways and he might go on "The Bachelorette."

Basically, he said, they weren't sold on each other and wanted to explore other opportunities.

But then Tia went on the show last night and told Becca she still had feelings for Colton, to which he said, "I was blindsided."

"I was not expecting that at all," he added. He said that he thought their connection was in the past, and said he was certainly "frustrated" that his future with Becca ended partly because of his past with Tia.

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As for his virginity and having to tell the world about that very personal fact, he said that "for me, there was only about six or seven people in my life that really knew" that before the show.

"My dad didn't know, I think my mom had a good idea," he added. "[But] that's not something you talk to your parents about ... it's difficult going from about six people knowing to six million."

Some of the guys in the house called his virginity a "roadblock" to starting a serious relationship, which Underwood said hit him hard.

"When people say that, I start to believe that more," he explained. "Why isn't that just a part of who I am and what makes me me?"

But Bachelor Nation also watched as Becca had to take a break during dinner when she found out last week, to which Underwood said "I did not feel disrespected."

"I understood that she wanted to compose herself and think about exactly what she wanted to say," he said. "I think it was more in a respectful way than a disrespectful way."

As for the stigma that comes with being a virgin, Underwood said that doesn't mean he's not a romantic and sexual person, "just not to that point."

And though he was eventually sent home, Underwood said the positive side has been people coming up to him and saying how "brave" they thought his decision was.

"It was honestly really cool to hear that," he said.