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Louise Thomas
Editor
The Bachelorette producers are under fire for the way they handled the season finale after it was revealed that Jenn Tran’s engagement to Devin Strader had been called off.
During the season 21 finale live show, which aired on Tuesday (September 3), Jenn and Devin were reunited for the first time in over a month in front of a live studio audience to discuss what had happened that led to their devastating split.
In the first half of the three-hour finale, audiences were shown Jenn’s breakup with runner-up Marcus Schoberg, which ultimately paved the way for Devin and Jenn’s engagement.
It was then revealed that Jenn had decided to propose to Devin. But before airing the proposal, host Jesse Palmer interrupted to tell audiences: “You won’t be seeing that proposal because of what transpired since that day in Hawaii, we’ve decided it wouldn’t be appropriate for anyone to see it until we heard from Jenn.”
Jenn was brought out to speak to Jesse, where she explained through tears that “as soon as we had left Hawaii, things were just different. It felt like he was pulling away.”
“The efforts were inconsistent. He wasn’t calling as much, he wasn’t texting as much,” she shared. “I was confused, I didn’t understand because we had just left so happy. I had promised my life to somebody that I thought was going to put every effort into the relationship. I just didn’t feel like that. I felt like I was secondary to everything in his life at that point.
“We had a Happy Couple planned sometime last month early. And the night before, I had gotten a phone call, and he called me, and he basically broke off the engagement,” she said.
The Happy Couple house is a Bachelor franchise tradition where the engaged couple live to strengthen their bond as the season airs.
“He had basically said that he didn’t love me anymore and didn’t feel the same way and felt like something had been off since the second he proposed, and regretted getting engaged,” she continued, adding that “he denied ever being in love.”
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Asked if she was ready to see Devin again, Jenn admitted that she wasn’t sure. “I mean, I’ve been trying to see him and just like have a conversation with him,” she said, “and I thought we were on the same page of like, ‘Ok, no matter how this ends, we both owe each other a conversation,’ and he’s been avoidant ever since.”
Once Devin was welcomed out, Jesse began, saying: “Obviously, we decided not to show your engagement because we felt like it was more important that the two of you had the chance to speak first.”
Jenn began the conversation confronting Devin about the way he handled the aftermath of their breakup.
“Ending the engagement on a phone call. The next day I wake up to you following girls on Instagram, not just any girl, but Maria,” she said.
Maria was one of Jenn’s fellow castmates on Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor that aired earlier this year. Maria was the fan-favorite to be the next Bachelorette before Jenn was announced as the lead.
Before rolling the clip of Jenn’s proposal to Devin, Jesse said: “I know you haven’t seen it yet. What do you think, should we all watch it together?”
Jenn slowly nodded her head and threw up her hands, saying: “Do I have a choice?”
Following the three-hour finale, fans instantly took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out The Bachelorette producers for showing the proposal.
“There’s no way they should have played the proposal it was cruel. I just hope they stay far away from Jenn. She didn’t deserve any of this,” one said.
A second agreed, writing: “This may be the cruelest thing this show has ever done. I can’t believe they’re making her watch herself propose to this man after all this.”
“Production really needs to be dealt with for Jenn’s treatment. Why would Jesse say all these encouraging things and then they go and re-traumatize her?! FOUL,” a third tweeted.
Someone else called the episode a “disgusting” and “sinister spectacle of a finale.” “I wish I could hug you, Jenn, I am so sorry,” they said.
In the previous “Men Tell All” episode, which saw Jenn’s already eliminated men come together to address the season’s drama, it was revealed that many of them had initially applied to be on the show thinking the lead was going to be The Bachelor season 28 contestants Maria or Daisy.
“When we all came out here, we had no idea who the bachelorette was going to be. But if anybody’s going to sit up here and say they didn’t think it was going to be Daisy or Maria, you guys are liars,” Sam M boldly claimed.
One fan commented: “Producers set up the first Asian lead and humiliated her. I’m heartbroken for Jenn because WHY on earth didn’t they cast men FOR her. This is crazy.”
The Independent has contacted ABC for comment.
