The Original Lauren B Makes Her ‘Bachelor’ Proposal Sound… Less Than Enjoyable

The Bachelor and The Bachelorette often end with proposals and engagements. But more often than not, Bachelor franchise engagements are called off before the couple ever says "I do." In a podcast interview with Reality Steve, Lauren Bushnell talked about getting engaged on The Bachelor to Ben Higgins and the anxiety she felt, suggesting that she ignored warnings from her "gut" about how fast the relationship was moving. Bushnell said on the podcast,

"There's so much doubt that's in your mind, but I remember waking up that morning, and I kind of had an idea that I was possibly going to get engaged, and I remember having so much anxiety about it. Which, looking back, I don't know if that was my gut being like, wait, this isn't, timing-wise, this is too rushed, or what."

Bushnell also said on the podcast that the morning of the proposal, she "snapped" at her producer for the first time. "I remember locking myself in the bathroom and just being so overwhelmed and just anxious, to be quite honest with you," Bushnell told Reality Steve. When the podcast host suggested there were "butterflies" on the day of the proposal, Bushnell said that the so-called butterflies may actually have been her gut telling her that it was too soon to get engaged.

Fans will remember that Bushnell and Higgins got engaged at the end of The Bachelor's 20th season. After starring in the Freeform show Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?, the two of them officially broke up in May 2017.

Since then, Bushnell has started dating Devin Antin, who she knew before competing on The Bachelor. Apparently, she and the real estate investor met on Tinder, and kept in touch as friends before she went on the show. When Bushnell moved to Los Angeles, where Antin lives, they reconnected, she explained in an Instagram Q&A. The two of them have been keeping their relationship fairly private, but it sounds like Bushnell is happy with where she is right now.

For his part, Higgins told Us Weekly last month that he is "dating again," a year after his and Bushnell's breakup. Higgins also appeared on The Bachelor Winter Games, though he didn't forge any romantic connections on the show and ended up leaving voluntarily.

"I'm dating again," Higgins told Us Weekly in May. "It was actually Winter Games that was the jumping point for me to decide that I'm moving on and start dating again, which has been awesome. And that's where I'm at. I'm dating. I hadn't dated in three years before this."

Fans hoping to learn more about Bushnell's new relationship and post-Bachelor life shouldn't get too excited, though. It doesn't sound like she's eager to return to reality TV. Bushnell told Reality Steve that she "didn't have a lot of excitement" about the Freeform spinoff. She also touched on the fact that Higgins was previously considering running for office. "Not only did I not want to do a reality show, but I also really didn't want my life to be a politician's fiancée or wife or whatever," she told Reality Steve.

Bushnell also revealed on the podcast that if she'd been asked to star in The Bachelorette, she might not have said "yes." She explained,

"I think I've realized this, especially as I've gotten older, I do not like all eyes on me. I don't like all the attention to be on me. I think I would feel really weird having, like, 20 guys competing for my attention. And I think I would really, really struggle with that."

It sounds like her post-Bachelor relationship is just right, then: She and Antin can share as much or as little about their relationship with fans as they want. And there's no pressure for them to follow any relationship timeline, which can only be a good thing.