Solving The Mystery Of Where Dean & Danielle L. Stand After 'Bachelor In Paradise'

Dean Unglert has had an…interesting Bachelor In Paradise experience. He wanted to date two girls, and he did, much to their chagrin, and Kristina Schulman bailed rather than continue be hurt on national television. Smart girl, huh? That leaves Dean left with Danielle Lombard, and who knows if they’ll end up together. Are Dean and Danielle friends after Bachelor In Paradise? Their whole connection is confusing.

Suffice it to say that Dean was not treating Danielle nor Kristina fairly by playing both sides against the middle, even though it mostly seemed like Danielle was fine with Dean biding his time with both until he chose her. Maybe she was confident that Dean would dump Kristina and they could ride horseback on the beach into the sunset. Or something. But Paradise is short and sweet, and the relationships are intense. We haven’t seen what happened at the end of Paradise, but Danielle isn’t exactly singing Dean’s praises in the press these days. In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, she said that she thinks that she and Kristina were “being misled” by Dean and that Dean definitely isn’t ready to be the Bachelor (a position that fans had previously been lobbying for after he was eliminated on Rachel’s season). Danielle continued:

"Since it's so hard for him to make up his mind between two women, I can only imagine how much more difficult it would be if you have 30 women to choose from. I don't know if [Dean's] really ready to take on that role yet.”

That… doesn’t really sound like something you’d say about a friend (or a boyfriend) in an interview, does it? To say you were misled and then say that you’re not sure your friend can make up his mind or know how to date a woman is shots fired in my book. To complicate matters even more, Dean told Glamour that he had found love in a hopeless place (aka Bachelor In Paradise). “Did I find love in Paradise? Yeah, I’ll be honest with you,” he said, “I did find love in Paradise. Yeah. I don’t see any need to hide it.” But when asked Dean if he was still in love, he, in true Chris Harrison form, threw it to a commercial. “That’s the kicker! That’s the million-dollar question,” Dean said. “I guess we’ll have to tune in to find out. That’s what the live reunion is for!” Ugh, Dean. You’re killing me.

This could all be just to throw viewers off the scent of a relationship or friendship, though, because Danielle and Dean were recently seen hanging out together at a farmer’s market in Los Angeles in July:

Farmer’s markets are not where you go with an acquaintance that you are trash talking in interviews. You have to like the person you’re with. This leads me to believe that who knows what Dean and Danielle are doing. Their words say, “See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya,” but their actions say, “Can you believe the price on heirloom tomatoes?” Of course, it's possible that Dean and Danielle were together until she saw his behavior unfold during the BiP airing and then she cut him loose. Who knows, though.

Not to sound like Dean, but I think we’re all just going to have to wait until the Bachelor In Paradise finale to have these two explain themselves and where their relationship stands today.