There Is Still Hope For Dean & Kristina Judging By This Incredibly Awkward ‘Ellen’ Interview

Now that Bachelor in Paradise Season 4 has officially come to a close, we can finally bury the love triangle that existed between Dean Unglert, Kristina Schulman, and Danielle Lombard... or can we? The future for these three has always been fuzzy, and a recent interview they all did together only makes the situation more confusing. On Monday, Dean, Kristina, and Danielle stopped by The Ellen Show to talk about all of their drama in paradise, and it's a lot to take in — especially if you've been outraged by this triangle all season long like most fans have.

In the interview, Ellen DeGeneres brought up Dean's behavior — with "behavior" referring to the way he was so careless with both women's feelings while stringing them along at the same time — in a way that only she could get away with. Since this episode of the show aired before Monday night's post-finale after show did, it was the first time fans got to see him being truly remorseful about the situation, and he was squirming the whole time.

What came out while all three of them were talking was the same story fans have seen seen on BiP all season long: Dean feared committing to someone who had such serious feelings for him, Danielle came into paradise without knowing that he'd been seeing Kristina, and Kristina thought she and Dean were going to be exclusive.

But what was actually surprising: Kristina seemed totally willing to give him a second chance, if he is willing to change his ways.

"Only if this guy learns from his mistakes," Kristina said when Ellen asked her if she'd be willing to rekindle things with her BiP ex.

"I personally have a lot of growth to do, but she's amazing and I mean, I hope that we continue to talk and see where that might lead," Dean added.

That makes it sound like they're currently trying to be friends, and that there's a chance that could progress into a romantic relationship in the future, right?

What went down on the after show was almost the opposite of what fans witnessed on Ellen. On the after show, Kristina was mad, which made it so easy to root for her. Some of her anger toward Danielle was misplaced — it's not Danielle's fault she went out with a guy who said he was unattached — but she hit the nail on the head when she called Dean out for the way he acted in paradise.

And if The Ellen Show was filmed after the BiP after show (the after show taped at the end of August, so it seems likely), it looks like Kristina has changed her tune a bit and softened her stance on Dean since then... which leads to so many questions. Are they talking again? Will they get back together or not? What's going on? It looks like anything is possible now.

It does seem that Dean really, truly is sorry for the way he treated both women, as evidenced by his tears on the finale, and like Chris Harrison mentioned, it was a brave thing for him to do to join the after show knowing he would have to discuss it on camera again after being in the wrong. He gets credit for that, even after the mistakes he's made.

But as he's mentioned on Ellen and on BiP, he does have a lot of growing up to do before he can be in a real relationship, and he needs to be able to work out all of these roadblocks before he attempts to be with Kristina again. She deserves so much better than what he has given her, so she shouldn't compromise for any less.