Reality TV
Bachelorette Fans Are Furious About This Disturbing Finale Moment
Viewers were incensed by Jenn and Devin’s sudden breakup, but what happened next was shocking.
Since the beginning of Jenn Tran’s Bachelorette season, fans predicted that the Season 21 lead might break tradition and propose to her final rose recipient. And that, she did. But it’s what happened months later that enraged fans during the Sept. 3 finale.
As Jenn shared during After the Final Rose, Devin’s behavior changed as soon as the pair left Hawaii. He began “pulling away” before ending their engagement over the phone. “He basically said that he didn’t love me anymore,” Jenn said, adding that he “regretted getting engaged.”
When Devin joined Jenn on stage, he tried to explain his actions by saying he had doubts about engagement — doubts that he was “regretfully late” sharing with her.
She also took her ex-fiancé to task about his post-split behavior, including following Maria Georgas on Instagram. One fan on X (formerly Twitter) called out Devin for “waiting to give Jenn the decency of a f*cking CONVERSATION after ending an ENGAGEMENT until the cameras were rolling.”
Several viewers dubbed Devin “The Smallest Man who Ever Lived,” à la Taylor Swift’s brutal breakup ballad.
“This man fooled us all,” one fan wrote, while another welcomed Devin to the “bachelorette Hall of LAME” alongside past controversial contestants.
Several fans reluctantly acknowledged that previous contestant Sam McKinney might have been on to Devin all along. “He was right about that one thing,” as one viewer put it.
About The Proposal Reveal...
While fans were understandably incensed about Devin’s switch-up, they were equally upset about how The Bachelorette producers handled the finale, specifically, forcing Jenn to watch her proposal while crying on stage and still sitting next to Devin.
During the finale, host Jesse Palmer praised Jenn for her “beautiful proposal,” despite how things turned out. “Nobody can ever take that away from you,” he said. “I know you haven’t seen it yet. What do you think, should we all watch it together?”
Jenn seemed resigned to the question. “Do I have a choice?” she asked before the clip rolled. As the proposal played out on screen, a reaction box in the corner showed Jenn sobbing — a production choice many fans felt was unusually mean-spirited.
“Alright, I have had my moments where this franchise has pissed me off plenty of times, but I think forcing Jenn to sit next to Devin ON LIVE TV and watch her proposal back while everyone can see her absolutely fall apart in doing so takes the cake,” one viewer wrote. “This is CRUEL.”
Another said, “WHY is the show making Jenn watch this proposal WHILE SITTING NEXT TO DEVIN this for real seems cruel. This feels mean. We easily could’ve watched this happen with her off-stage. Why are the producers treating her this way?”
One fan declared it “one of the most heartless moves” they’d ever seen on The Bachelorette, and several demanded ABC apologize to Jenn.
Several Bachelor Nation alums reacted to the distressing display, too. “Absolutely cruel and unnecessary to make her watch that back. Cannot believe it,” wrote Ben Higgins, saying Jenn should have walked away “and never turned back.” Charity Lawson was left “speechless.”
