Bachelor Nation is still trying to process the dramatic finale of Season 21 of The Bachelorette, where they saw contestant Devin Strader break off his engagement with Jenn Tran in a dramatic turn of events.
During the After the Final Rose segment, Jenn—the first-ever Asian lead—tearfully recounted how her chosen man had broken up with her two months after they left Hawaii engaged.
“He basically said he didn’t love me anymore and didn’t feel the same way,” the 26-year-old recalled to host Jesse Palmer on the September 3 episode, adding that Devin, in a 15-minute phone call, said he “regretted” the engagement. “He was checked out. It wasn’t what he wanted anymore.”
DEVIN, JENN TRAN
But Devin was quick to share his side of the story.
“When we left the show, I had a lot of doubts,” the 28-year-old explained, insisting that he had always been transparent about his reservations. “I did come clean to you about that.”
“You hid all of this from me,” Jenn, the aspiring physician assistant, shot back. “For two months, I was pouring everything into you while you hid all of these feelings of doubt and made me feel even more in love with you and try to fight for a relationship that was out the door half the time.”
As he listened to Jenn’s account of their relationship unraveling, the freight company entrepreneur admitted, “I hid all these feelings of doubt” and “was regretfully late on letting you know.”
“I can only sit here and take accountability for my shortcomings,” he added.
JENN TRAN, DEVIN
In an attempt to ease the uncomfortable dynamic between them, Devin complimented Jenn: “I watched this beautiful girl grow and flourish into this amazing woman on her own. It took none of us on the show to make you that person. It was amazing to watch you flourish into who you were.”
But after returning to the real world, without cameras, he admitted, “I found myself falling short of those expectations in the real world. I found myself not being able to live up to the things that you need and you deserve. I watched myself contribute to your regression and that hurt me. You don’t deserve to compromise your standards to be happy.”
After much back and forth, Jenn emphasized the importance of commitment and what she genuinely desired by coming onto the show.
“I hope that you learn that the weight of your words matters and that if you’re going to promise something, you should be able to fulfill those promises,” she told Devin. “I just simply couldn’t have done what you have done in that position. And when I love something, I nurture it and I value it, and I don’t throw it away the next day.”