Colton Finally Explained Why He Broke Up With Tia Before 'The Bachelorette'

Rumors that Tia and Colton had dated before The Bachelorette have been going around for a couple of weeks, and now, fans finally have the answers they've been looking for. On Monday night's episode, Colton revealed that yes, he did date Tia before filming the show. But why did Colton and Tia break up before The Bachelorette? According to the former pro football player, he just wasn't feeling it with her, so he knew he had to end things.

When they had the chance to sit down just the two of them, Colton came clean about everything with Becca — not because the news slipped out, because he felt like he should be honest with her from the beginning (or, at least, Week 2), which is definitely commendable. He did make it very clear that things between them are over, even though they didn't start all that long ago.

As many fans have noticed, Colton was tweeting about Tia when Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s season of The Bachelor was airing, so it seemed like he was really into her earlier this year. And although he didn't explain exactly how they met (via social media seems likely), he did tell Becca about why their relationship didn't work.

Unfortunately, there's no juicy story here — actually, the reason behind their short-lived romance is relatively boring.

According to Colton, he and Tia only spent a weekend together in January, and even from just that short time they spent, he realized that the timing wasn't right. He said:

"Prior coming onto this in January, I had a relationship with Tia. And I wanted to make sure to explain, sort of, that we had a weekend together, and we had a good time, but for me, the timing wasn’t right to grow what was a spark into a flame. If my feelings were strong enough, I wouldn’t have came on this. And I think that, what I know of you, we could have a ton, whereas it wasn’t there with her."

That's definitely a valid reason to end things before the dating stages turn into a relationship; if it's not working from the start and you're looking for something serious, why waste your time? Timing can be everything when it comes to starting a new relationship, and if it wasn't right for Colton and Tia, it may have never turned into something more given the chance.

Of course, Becca had her doubts during the conversation — who wouldn't? She said she was worried this meant that Colton prepared for The Bachelorette hoping that Tia would be the leading lady, and it's hard to blame her for that.

"Of course I’m going to hope that he’s here for me and that he didn’t come into this hoping it was Tia, but I’m going to be thinking of this until the next time we can talk about it," she said.

Even though it didn't sound like Colton was actually expecting Becca to be Tia, it definitely makes sense that it would be a worry of hers. Nobody wants to hear that someone they're interested in briefly dated someone you're friendly with, right? And to have to process that on the fly and then decide whether or not you want to consider pursuing that connection is a lot.

Although Becca played with the idea of sending Colton home after that — and even talked to him again during the cocktail party — she ultimately decided to keep him during Monday night's rose ceremony, so let's hope she doesn't end up regretting that choice. Becca's already been through the emotional wringer on national television once this year. Isn't that enough?