(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you haven’t watched Monday’s finale episode of “The Bachelor” Season 22)
Well “Bachelor” Nation, the “shocking” conclusion to this season has come, and boy, was it a doozy: our bachelor Arie Luyendyk chose Becca K. only to change his mind and rekindle his relationship with Lauren B.
Arie previously told both women that he loved them, which is sure to cause lots of drama when he faces them again during the “After the Final Rose” episode Tuesday night. Host Chris Harrison warned that Arie was going to be “the most controversial Bachelor in history” — and boy was he ever.
Read below to see how it went down …
Arie initially proposed to Becca, who earned the first impression rose back in the premiere episode and has had a strong connection with the race-car-driver-turned-real-estate-agent throughout the season. But Arie decided he had to “follow is heart,” and changed his mind after the show wrapped — breaking up with Becca and getting back with Lauren.
He started out telling Becca “I choose you every day from here on out,” before proposing to her. But with an hour left of the three-hour special to go, we knew there must be a curveball, right? Arie later told his fiancee, “I go to bed and I think about Lauren, and I get up and I think about Lauren.” Ouch. And so he switched girls.
I think we can all related to Becca’s reaction. “Are you f–king kidding me?” she said when he delivered the bad news.
This isn’t the first time a Bachelor has changed his mind after the fact.
In 2009, single dad Jason Mesnick picked Melissa Rycroft over Molly Malaney after a very tearful breakup with Molly (his “balcony cry” has gone down in the show’s history as a moment to judge all other cries against). But during the “After the Final Rose” episode, he admitted to host Chris Harrison that he just couldn’t stop thinking about Molly.
Molly then came out from backstage, and told him she’d take him back. The two got married about a year later — filmed on ABC — and recently celebrated eight years together. They have two kids.
Tune in Tuesday night for a sure-to-be dramatic and tearful “After the Final Rose” on ABC at 8 p.m., during which the next Bachelorette will also be revealed.