An unexpected shoulder to cry on. Katie Thurston stopped by “Bachelor Happy Hour” to chat with co-hosts Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin about why she felt compelled to comfort Sarah Trott moments before she eliminated herself from “The Bachelor” Season 25.

As viewers witnessed on Monday night’s episode, the broadcast journalist interrupted Katie’s conversation with Matt James during a group date she wasn’t invited on. Despite scoring a one-on-one date with Matt during Week 2, the blonde beauty took the opportunity to express doubts about their relationship to the Bachelor himself. Naturally, Sarah’s decision to crash the date and steal more time with Matt caused major drama with her fellow contestants.

“I just kind of like let her have her time because I just wasn’t prepared. So, the girls know and they’re like, ‘Go get your man.’ So that’s when I kind of come together and I’m like, ‘Wait, wait, wait. She’s not on the group date. What’s going on? This is not right. What’s happening?’” Katie recounted.

“I felt like I gave her enough time to say what she needed to say,” she continued. “But then she wasn’t leaving so I had to sit there and be like, ‘OK, your time is up. I don’t know how more clear I can be. You need to go.’”

Sarah eventually exited the date and later isolated herself inside her room at Pennsylvania’s Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. When she emerged to reunite with her castmates, she found herself on the receiving end of cruel comments. Sarah then said that she would be going home amid the discord — and it wasn’t long before Katie found her to make sure she was OK.

“Human to human, you watched this woman just be verbally abused by everybody. Sure, she’s been gone all day, and everyone’s entitled to their emotions and that’s fine. But to witness it, it wasn’t fun to watch,” Katie said. “You just felt like you’re watching this girl get beat up for no reason. She interrupted me and I felt like I was less mad than some of the other girls who weren’t even on the date.”

She added, “I wanted to really make sure that she was leaving on her own and that there weren’t any unresolved feelings for Matt because, ultimately, if she had feelings for Matt, I needed her to stay and explore that out completely. I didn’t want to be Matt’s backup plan if Sarah was his first choice.”

Katie went on to say that if Sarah decided to stay, she would have had her back if more conflict among the ladies ensued. However, when the Washington native learned that Sarah also felt uneasy about spending time away from her terminally ill father — who is battling ALS and lives in Southern California — she completely understood her decision to leave.

“That moment for me was probably one of the most raw moments in our experience together because I had no idea. When that happened, it was just the most genuine, unpredictable bond that I was going to have with her. I instantly felt very protective over her regardless of dating the same guy, regardless of what drama has happened at this point,” said Katie, whose own father passed away in 2012.

“Family is family and losing a parent is really hard,” she elaborated. “And if she’s struggling with that, I cannot do anything but respect her for wanting to be with her family.”

Listen to Katie’s entire “Bachelor Happy Hour” interview below.