After the Final Rose

After+the+Final+Rose

*SPOILER ALERTS!*

This season of The Bachelor had fans feeling, well, for lack of a better word, blah. The Bachelor, Arie Luyendyk Jr, previously the runner up on Emily Maynard’s season, was nothing short of annoying, awkward, gross, and after the finale, immature. Whether it be using the same dialogue to every woman or sticking his fingers through a contestants hoop earing, Arie never failed to make audiences across America cringe.

For me, however, this season was different than normal. My next-door neighbor and lifelong friend, Caroline Lunny, was a contestant and fan-favorite on the highly reviewed reality TV show. In conversation, Caroline often recalled her experience in the context of the friends she made with the women, rather than with Arie. All of the women on the show will agree that Arie is not the best man any woman could ask for. None of the women seemed well suited for marriage with him.

Fans took a particular liking to Caroline when she called the villainous Krystal out for sabotaging other relationships forming on the show. During the women tell-all episode, however, Caroline earned the ears of the nation when she told Arie: “I know what you did. And I don’t know how you could do that.” What did Arie do? Well, let me tell you:

During the three-hour finale of The Bachelor, viewers watched two gorgeous dates between Arie and Becca and Arie and Lauren. It really could have gone either way, especially because Arie told both women that he was in love with them. (WHO DOES THAT!!??!!) Anywho, fast forward a little bit and we find out that Arie is going to ask Becca to marry him, and he is going to break up with Lauren. And this all well and good, Arie says goodbye to Lauren which was sad because she obviously looked upset. Then, we saw perhaps the sweetest proposal between Arie and Becca.

About a month into his engagement with Becca, Arie hadn’t felt any closure between him and Lauren. After asking Becca if he could reach out, Arie slid into Lauren’s DMs and discussed their relationship. Quickly following this encounter, Arie decided that he had made a mistake and subsequently broke off his engagement with Becca on camera. Well, allow me to say that watching Becca and Arie break up was perhaps the most emotional clip in reality TV. Becca earned everyone’s love and affection that night.

Leaving Becca brokenhearted, Arie ran back to Lauren and the two have been together ever since. On the After The Final Rose tell-all, Becca and Arie talked for the first time since their split and unfortunately Arie only hurt himself more, telling audiences that “he didn’t know why he chose her in the first place, and that it was only because she was the safest option.” But he put a nail in his coffin when he told Lauren, immediately following his break-up with Becca, that he had no feelings for Becca anymore.

In addition to this, Arie’s final word on his season of The Bachelor was his proposal to Lauren. It’s clear that engagements are trivial to Arie. Abby Hutner ‘18 said that “Arie has maturity issues for being a man of 36 years of age.”  He has no real backbone, making him resemble something similar to a piece of wet lettuce.

Caroline will say the same thing of Arie: he’s not mature. God bless Lauren B for agreeing to be his wife, because the Lord knows how long that will last. And the road isn’t over for Becca; ABC has confirmed that Becca will be the next Bachelorette on the coming season.

It’s the end of another season of The Bachelor, and I don’t think anyone is actually happy about the outcome. All the best to Arie and Lauren, but here’s to Becca, the next Bachelorette!