The Bachelorette returned for more than three hours of season 21 finale, and host Jesse Palmer from the first moment promised that this would be an episode “unlike anything that’s ever happened… in our history on The Bachelorette.” Well — as the finale went down, it was obvious: The show's host wasn't kidding.
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| Jenn Tran during 'The Bachelorette' pre-taped finale. Disney/John Fleenor |
At the end of Season 1, leading lady Jenn Tran was torn between two men — Marcus Shoberg and Devin Strader. But while the finale was an hour and a half old at that point, Tran had one last surprise to spring on Shoberg: breaking up with him during their final date. The first half of the episode was consumed by whether Shoberg should decide to settle with Tran at all, as he couldn't find it in him to utter a single “I love you.” Shortly thereafter, Tran is finally able to tell the finalist that she loves him — right before breaking up with him.
The second, leading up to the night's biggest shocker when Tran — who didn't know if she wanted anyone but Strader for sex at first sight — decided that maybe he should not be allowed to propose because ultimately she was going push him on one knee and do it herself. But, in the middle of showing Tran proposing (more on that below), just as viewers were about to see it — and before they could even hear from her about how all this went down for them over there towards the Pacific Ocean — Palmer cut back after a commercial break to say why ABC wouldn't put Tan's proposal on air.
Tran was in the audience for the live show and barely made it through her response to Strader's proposal because she burst into tears almost immediately, explaining that he dumped her via phone after they finished taping. The franchise has had breakups in the past, but this was not before —most famously when Arie Luyendyk Jr. proposed to former Bachelorette star Becca Kufrin at the end of his Bachelor season only for him to realized that he actually loved Lauren Burnham during an airplane trip a few weeks into their engagement and ended things with Kufrin on camera during her After the Final Rose special so he could propose live there and then televised another time?
After a segment filled emotion and tension, Strader finally stepped onto the stage with Tran. “Strader, I honestly don't know where to begin,” she began their back-and-forth. The voice says: 'I just think this conversation right now between the two of us is not what I had wanted and that it's not something that means anything to me.
Tran, visibly upset and angry during the exchange with Strader, accused him of distancing himself from her in the time between taping and live finale before ultimately ending their relationship.
The 26-year-old commented: “I get it, you can change your mind but I don't understand what he done after we broke off our engagement. He confirmed on Instagram earlier this week that he had indeed followed Maria Georgas — a former castmate of Tran's from the 2018 season of The Bachelor, and his publicist told Brisbane radio station Hit105 last Tuesday during an interview: "Last time I checked Rachel broke up with Matt two days ago yet here we are [with him] clubbing in New York...
‘He told me: “Oh, I just need some time and space to deal with what is it my head. "Like [Sarkeesian] is saying all this bullshit to me and then, like, 'This makes me sad,' ” Tran said. Strader jumped in after an audible gasp from the audience: “I think that is a little different than what we all were expecting to hear you say. I went there for a work trip. I met a client.”
“In the club,” Tran added.
The exes argued back and forth until Palmer finally mentioned the proposal, telling Tran no one could strip it of its historical moment. I know you haven't seen in it. What do you think? Mmm… do you want to hang around and watch it with us? Tran, Strader and the audience, asked host “Do I have a choice?” Spoke she as the clip began to play.
The landmark proposal, shown much later on in real time, was a touching and whimsical moment between Tran and her boyfriend Strader where she leads the pack by telling him that she is about to propose to him — followed quickly by his proposing back.
After sitting down and re-watching the clip with the audience, Tran said she understands now why it was one of her happiest days: "I'm very proud I could stand up to this man who — at that time, he afforded me what I deserved." "Fuck, I'm never going to regret proposing on there. “Because the man no longer is, but as a woman I still am.”
Palmer asked Tran to reiterate what she would like Strader to take away from this experience and end her story with a lesson. “Hopefully though, you learn that your words hold weight and if you’re going to make promises then they should be kept,” she also tweeted.
"Because I would have simply not been able to do what you had done in that position," she added. When I love something, I wont cut short and realize the next day. I hope you find something in yourself, wherever it is along the journey of self-discovery that I have found myself to be at peace with.
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| Tran with her final pick, Strader. DISNEY/John Fleeno |
It left us with an early glimpse of Joan Vassos, the original Golden Bachelorette. The Viacom network‘s next over-60 singleton seeking soulmate: Vassos, a 61-year-old grandmother and school administrator from Rockland, Maryland, who was introduced at Disney’s upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers in May.
Kelsey Anderson, who was engaged to Joey Graziadei on season 28 of The Bachelor when they filmed this clip is seen finally face-to-face with Vassos as she prepares for her cast meet and greets. The 26-year-old enthuses about being on the programme before she hands over to her father, Mark Anderson who will be a contestant.