Los Angeles, California - New year, new Bachelor... same drama! Grant Ellis has taken the reigns of the hit franchise, but did the season 29 premiere live up to the hype?

After his pre-hometowns elimination from Jenn Tran's season of The Bachelorette, Grant is ready to find his person, and 25 lucky women have lined up for the chance to score his final rose.

Monday's premiere kicked off with some more information on our 31-year-old leading man, who opened up about his parents' painful divorce and his dad's battle with addiction.

Finally feeling settled in his life, Grant wants to find that missing piece – a future Mrs. Ellis.

First to introduce herself at the mansion was Rose, who couldn't help but play up her name's connection to the franchise as she asked whether Grant would accept this rose.

Next up was Litia, who presented our Bachelor with a sparkling basketball in a nod to his time as a pro hooper, followed by J'Nae, who made another reference to the sport with a chalk exchange.

Parisa, a pediatric behavior analyst, arrived next, after which Puerto Rico native Carolina delivered a monologue in Spanish to a very confused Grant. After this followed a few standard entrances by Alli Jo, Dina, Radhika, Allyshia, Natalie, and Beverly.

Then, fans got their first outlandish arrival of the night by Linda the llama (yes, you read that right!), who accompanied farm girl Alexe.

Juliana entered next, going in on a cannoli Lady-and-the-Tramp style with Grant, followed by model Chloie and social media manager Bailey, who asked the man of the evening to take some pictures – of her, that is!

Making another memorable entrance was Sarafiena, who brought along a giant cut-out of Grant's head. Following that up were Kyleigh, Ella, and Christina, all of whom offered delightfully traditional introductions.

Pediatrician Neicey opted to step out in her lab coat, while interior designer Kelsey showed up in a basketball jersey with "Mrs. Ellis" printed on the back.

Savannah, a wedding planner, brought a cake bearing figurines of herself and Grant as the bride and groom, while nightclub server Vicky brought the party vibes in a pink convertible.

Last but not least was Zoe, who came armed with a t-shirt cannon that naturally shot out tees featuring herself and Grant.

Thus began the solo chats of the night, with Bailey stealing Grant first to – you guessed it – take more pictures (at least they were joint selfies this time?).

Parisa took the opportunity to show Grant a rather alarming PowerPoint presentation filled with seemingly AI-generated photos of their potential future, while Allyshia struck a more serious chord with a candid chat about her mom's background as an immigrant.

The move certainly paid off, as Grant then initiated the very first kiss of the season with her!

While Allyshia may have gotten the all-important first kiss, it was far from the only smooch Grant shared over the course of the night.

Juliana scored a kiss after a chat about their mutual interests, and while Grant revealed he did want to kiss Carolina during their emotional convo about family, he opted not to jump in too soon out of respect for her boundaries.

Next came a much too long diversion with the entrance of a "mystery woman," who was – unsurprisingly – just Grant's sister, Taylor, who was introduced earlier in the episode.

Taylor shared some new tidbits about Grant and embarrassed him with a few childhood photos, but all in all, the cameo was fairly uneventful.

Grant then had some more one-on-one chats, sharing kisses with Litia, Alexe, Vicky, and Zoe.

After a kiss-less exchange with Natalie, Grant and Rose enjoy a Ghost-esque pottery session to make rings out of clay.

Finally, it was time to hand out the first impression rose, and this season features a new twist: the winner of the first impression rose will be going on the first one-on-one with Grant!

It was ultimately Alexe – yes, the llama girl! – who was given the extra-special rose.

Of course, not everyone could be so lucky, as the rose ceremony revealed that J'Nae, Christina, Neicy, Radhika, Kelsey, Kyleigh, and Savannah would all be packing their bags.

No premiere would be complete without the full season trailer, which set up a very dramatic finale where Grant inexplicably struggles with his final pick up to one hour before the proposal!

Get ready, Bachelor Nation, because it looks like we're in for a bumpy ride! The Bachelor returns on Monday, February 3 at 8 PM ET on ABC.