From the first moment of The Bachelorette‘s season 21 final episode, host Jesse Palmer assured viewers that the next three hours would include something that has never happened before on the show. As the finale unfolded, one thing became clear: the show’s host was not exaggerating.
Going into the finale, this season’s leading lady, Jenn Tran, was deciding between two men, Marcus Shoberg and Devin Strader. However, a little over an hour and a half into the finale, Tran delivered a surprise in the form of a last-chance date break-up between her and Shoberg. Much of the episode’s first half focused on whether or not Shoberg was ready to commit to Tran after he was unable to say he loved her. The finalist is finally able to tell Tran he loves her, right before he’s been broken up with.
The second, which led into the biggest surprise of the night, came when Tran, confident in her decision to be with Strader, announced she was going to tell him that he couldn’t propose — because she was going to propose to him. However, before viewers could even see Tran’s proposal, Palmer cut out of the pre-taped Hawaii portion to tell the audience it wouldn’t be appropriate to show the proposal before hearing from the leading lady herself.
Tran with her final pick, Strader.
DISNEY/John Fleeno
Tran joined the live audience and quickly broke down in tears, revealing that after the show finished airing, Strader broke off the engagement through a phone call. The breakup was not the franchise’s first — Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s Bachelor season ended with him proposing to former Bachelorette star Becca Kufrin before eventually changing his mind, breaking up with Kufrin and proposing to Lauren Burnham during the live After the Final Rose special.
In an emotional and tense segment, Strader finally took the stage with Tran. “I don’t even know where to start,” she told Strader to kick off their conversation. “I just think this conversation right now between the two of us is not what I had wanted and is not something that is going to be meaningful to me.”
Tran, who was visibly angry and upset throughout the conversation, confronted Strader for spending the months between the taping and the live finale pulling away from the relationship before eventually breaking it off.
The 26-year-old told her ex-fiancé she understands that someone can change their mind but that she didn’t understand what he did after their engagement ended. She mentioned that Strader followed Tran’s former Bachelor cast mate Maria Georgas the morning after their engagement ended and instead of being upset about their relationship, he was “in New York clubbing with Jeremy.”
“He said, ‘Oh, I need time and space to process my emotions. This makes me sad,’” Tran recalled. Strader jumped in after an audible surprise from the audience: “I think this is a little different than the conversation that I was hoping to have with you. I went there for a work trip. I met a client.”
“In the club,” Tran added.
The former couple went back and forth before Palmer eventually brought up the proposal, telling Tran no one could take away the historical nature of it. “I know you haven’t seen it yet. What do you think? Should we all watch it together?” the host asked Tran, Strader and the audience. “Do I have a choice?” she retorted as the clip started rolling.
The first-of-its-kind proposal, when it was eventually shown, was a beautiful and romantic moment between Tran and Strader, with the leading lading telling Strader she was proposing to him and him proposing right back.
Tran told the audience after watching the clip back that she thought it was the happiest day of her life and that she was proud of herself for choosing a man who gave her what she deserved at the time. “I do not regret proposing to that man on there,” she said. “That man doesn’t exist anymore, and the truth of the matter is, I’m still that same woman I am.”
To wrap up Tran’s story, Palmer offered the reality star to share what she hoped Strader learned from the experience. “I hope that you learn that the weight of your words matter, and that if you’re going to promise something, you should be able to fulfill those promises,” she said.
“I simply couldn’t have done what you had done in that position,” she continued. “When I love something, I nurture it and I value it, and I don’t throw it away the next day. I hope that you find whatever it is, wherever it is in your self-journey, I hope that you get there one day.”
The finale ended with an upcoming look at Joan Vassos, the first-ever Golden Bachelorette. Vassos, a 61-year-old grandmother and school administrator from Rockland, Maryland, was revealed to be the next senior looking for love when she made a surprise appearance at Disney’s upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers in May.
In the clip, Kelsey Anderson, who got engaged to Joey Graziadei during season 28 of The Bachelor, greets Vassos as she prepares to meet her cast of potential suitors. The 26-year-old gushes about her experience on the show before introducing Vassos to her father, Mark Anderson, who will be a contestant on the show.