Tayshia Adams thinks quarantine helped her 'Bachelorette' men become more vulnerable with her this season

• This season of "The Bachelorette" has seen contestants open up about serious topics, including bulimia, addiction, and suicide.
• Tayshia Adams told Insider that she believes staying in one place during filming due to the pandemic helped the men feel safe and open up more.
• "Being in one location where you're kind of able to just be comfortable and come up with a routine... kind of allowed them to have a little bit more time to just personally think about everything that they were feeling," Adams said.
• Adams also believes that spending months in lockdown might have made her men more willing to let their walls down when they came to the show.

Any proud member of Bachelor Nation would likely agree that this season of "The Bachelorette" has been the most vulnerable we've ever seen.

After Clare Crawley made the fastest departure in the show's history to get engaged to contestant Dale Moss, the men she left behind opened up in a big way to new star Tayshia Adams.

While contestants have shared tough stories from their past throughout the franchise's 18-year history, this season has seen topics that have never been discussed on a "Bachelor" season before, including suicide, eating disorders, and addiction.

Adams told Insider that she believes one of the reasons her season saw so many candid conversations is because the cast were able to "set some roots" at their resort in Palm Springs, California due to the pandemic, rather than jet off every week to a new destination - the show's norm.

"Being in one location where you're able to just be comfortable and come up with a routine, it's not just constantly packing and doing this and that, allowed them to have a little bit more time to just personally think about everything that they were feeling and what they wanted," Adams explained.

"And, in turn, that showed up in their conversations with me," she added. "And I think it did benefit us to be honest with you."

Adams also believes that spending so many months in lockdown might have made her men more willing to let their walls down

Along with the show not filming in various locations due to the pandemic, many contestants, including Adams, were coming out of their own quarantines. Adams said being self-isolated could have had an effect on how they showed up on the series.

"I feel like not having human interaction for quite some time does take a toll. And I think that there's a need and a want to find love and interact with people and just be vulnerable," she continued, "and I think maybe they felt safe enough to open up and talk about it with me, which is great."

"But I also feel like those are real conversations," she added. "Those are real things that people face every day. And the fact that we're openly talking about it, I think it's amazing."

One of the men who surprised Adams the most was Ben Smith, who opened up to her on the show about his eating disorder and past suicide attempts

One contestant, Ben Smith, told Adams that he had struggled with bulimia for 15 years and felt "completely lost" after he broke his back and was forced to leave the Army.

"My life was very dark," he said during the episode. "And I didn't know how to say that I needed things."

Smith added that he had been "very intentional and aggressive" with his therapy, and credited his sister with saving his life.

"The only thing that got me through that was her and she has no idea," he said. "I owe her everything."

Adams told Insider that Smith was "a completely different person" after he had opened up to her on the series.

"It was like a weight had been lifted off [of] his shoulders," she said. "I think there were a lot of men that grew before my eyes, and grew before their own, but Ben was someone that really surprised me."

As the heart-to-hearts continued throughout filming, Adams found herself falling in love with multiple men on the show

With the series finale airing Tuesday night, many are wondering who Adams will chose to spend her happily ever after with. Adams told Insider that she's "leading with my heart" with many contestants on the show so it won't be an easy choice.

The bachelorette admitted that it was an "interesting" situation to be in, falling in love with multiple people at once, adding "it's not normal."

"As you've seen with how many vulnerable conversations I have, it's hard not to start investing in a lot of feelings and start falling for these men because they're amazing," she added.

And while she's had some incredible adventures on both "The Bachelor" and "Bachelor in Paradise," Adams said she wouldn't have wanted to do her season of "The Bachelorette" any other way.

"At the end of the day, I'm a really simple girl," Adams said. "Sure, I like the whole helicopter thing and the fun...but what I'm there for is to find my partner, you know? It's not an adventure buddy."

• Read more:
• Tayshia Adams was worried that she wouldn't be 'The Bachelorette' contestants' type because she was biracial after Clare Crawley's sudden departure
• Tayshia Adams says Ben Smith was the 'Bachelorette' contestant who surprised her the most after revealing his 15-year eating disorder
• 'Bachelor' winner Catherine Lowe said she thought her husband Sean wouldn't be attracted to her because she's 'a different race'
• Former 'Bachelor' winner Catherine Lowe says she believes Clare Crawley and Dale Moss didn't communicate before 'The Bachelorette'