Bachelor Nation
11 Shocking ‘Bachelor’ & ‘Bachelorette’ Endings, Ranked
Things aren’t always so cut and dry on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. While the premise of the show is for one person to date a group of suitors, then narrow it down to just one and get engaged, the seasons don’t always follow the exact same format.
That’s because things sometimes get confusing as the season winds down. From leads changing their minds to scandals breaking out before the finale airs, there have been some pretty unconventional season endings in Bachelor Nation history.
With Grant Ellis‘ season coming to an end on March 24, Swooon is looking back at some of the craziest ways The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have ended over the years.
The Bachelor, Season 29 Finale, Monday, 8/7c, ABC
11. Clare Crawley
Clare Crawley didn’t even make it to the end of her season of The Bachelorette. Less than two weeks into filming, she decided she wanted to be with Dale Moss. None of the other men were even worth her time when she was already envisioning a future with Moss.
So, there was a final rose ceremony right in the middle of Season 16. Moss was on the same page and proposed to Crawley right then and there. Tayshia Adams was then brought in as the new lead to finish out the season (Moss and Crawley have since broken up).
10. Matt James
Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell entered a relationship at the end of The Bachelor Season 25. Although they did not get engaged, they left the show committed to each other.
However, as the season was airing, old photos that showed Kirkconnell at a party with a racially insensitive theme surfaced online. When James appeared on the live after-show, he revealed that he and Kirkconnell had already split, leaving him as a single man.
She apologized for her past actions and promised to take the time to learn and grow. Just weeks later, she did that to James’ satisfaction, and they got back together in April 2021. However, they split in January 2025.
9. Colton Underwood
The ending of Colton Underwood’s season was teased to be a bit more dramatic than it actually was (who could forget that infamous fence jump). However, it did result in an unconventional ending that had never happened before.
Cassie Randolphended her relationship with Underwood at the final 3. However, she was the one he wanted to be with, so he ended his relationships with the other two remaining women (Adams and Hannah Godwin) to try and win Randolph back. Underwood and Godwin didn’t even have their fantasy suite date before he broke up with her.
From there, things were pretty standard, as Randolph and Underwood decided to give the relationship a shot. They didn’t get engaged, but they left the show as a couple and dated for more than a year before splitting in 2020.
8. Rachel Recchia
Rachel Recchia and Tino Franco got engaged on Season 19 of The Bachelorette. However, the relationship was short-lived. They split by the time the finale aired, and cameras were there to film the breakup.
During the tense and tear-filled conversation, Recchia confronted Franco about whether or not he was unfaithful. He admitted to cheating on her, prompting her to break up with him.
To add to the drama, at the live after-show, runner-up Aven Jones asked Recchia out on a date and she accepted. However, they did not continue to pursue a relationship afterward.
7. Jenn Tran
Season 21 of The Bachelorette wound down in a pretty standard fashion (at first). Jenn Tran narrowed the men down and knew she wanted to be with Devin Strader. However, at the final rose ceremony, she made things a bit unconventional by proposing to him before he got down on one knee for her. He then reciprocated with a proposal of his own.
However, the dramatics really occurred as the season aired. By the time of the finale, Tran and Strader had broken up. Their confrontation on the live after-show was quite iconic, as she called him out for “changing” as soon as the cameras stopped filming. She rehashed their breakup, revealing that it happened over the phone, and slammed Strader for seemingly moving on so quickly after the split. He was out with his friends in New York City just days later, while she was grieving the end of their engagement.
Strader became enemy #1 in Bachelor Nation after his behavior and lackluster apology. He only made things worse when he tried to defend himself on social media afterwards. This one was a total mess.
6. Peter Weber
Peter Weber was all over the place at the end of Season 24 of The Bachelor, but it was his family that really made the ending of his season so wild. He introduced his family to his final two women, Hannah Ann Sluss and Madison Prewett.
Even before they met Prewett, the Webers were concerned about whether she was the right one for their son. Weber explained that he and Prewett have different values, especially when it came to religion. The family made it clear to Weber that they saw red flags in Prewett, and none in Sluss.
Although Weber was still leaning towards picking Prewett at that point, she wasn’t able to get past the fact that he was intimate with the other women in the fantasy suite. She broke up with him on their final date, and he went on to get engaged to Sluss. However, the relationship didn’t last long – the two broke up before the live finale aired.
Host Chris Harrison paid Prewett a visit before the live show to tell her about Weber and Sluss’ split. She said she was ready to give the relationship another chance, and she and Weber reunited on the live after-show. However, Weber’s parents were in the audience, and his mom, Barbara, did not shy away from continuing to make her distaste for Prewett known. The reconciliation only lasted a matter of days before Weber and Prewett ended things.
5. Hannah Brown
Hannah Brown was left heartbroken by Jed Wyatt during Season 15 of The Bachelorette. After the two got engaged during the final rose ceremony, it didn’t take long for everything to fall apart.
As the season was airing, a woman came forward and revealed that she had been dating Wyatt until right before he left to film the show. She said he told her he was only using The Bacheloretteas a platform for his music career and promised her that they would be together when he got home.
When Brown confronted Wyatt about the scandal, ABC cameras were there to film the interaction. The raw conversation aired during the finale, after which Brown reunited with her runner-up, Tyler Cameron, onstage and asked him on a date. They ended up spending time together that week, but just weeks later he was linked to Gigi Hadid.
4. Clayton Echard
Clayton Echard was a mess at the end of Season 26 of The Bachelor. He told all three final women – Recchia, Gabby Windey, and Susie Evans – that he loved them. He then sent Evans home at the final 3 rose ceremony, only to beg her to come back and give him another chance.
When he realized that Evans was the one he wanted to be with, Echard dumped Recchia and Windey at the same time in one of the most dramatic breakups in Bachelor Nation history. He then told Evans he was choosing her at the final rose ceremony, only for her to reject him.
Evans said she wasn’t ready to enter a relationship with Echard yet and had to choose herself. However, by the time the finale aired, the exes had rekindled their relationship. They showed up at the live aftershow together and dated for about six more months before splitting in September 2022.
3. Brad Womack
Brad Womack is the only lead in Bachelor Nation history to choose no one at the final rose ceremony. He rejected both of his final two women, DeAnna Pappas and Jenni Croft, in Season 11, opting to leave the show alone instead of in a relationship.
He did return for another season of The Bachelor during Season 15, and although he did get engaged to Emily Maynard this time around, they eventually broke up.
2. Arie Luyendyk
When Arie Luyendyk and Becca Kufrin left Season 22 of The Bachelor, they were engaged and in love (or so she thought). By the time their season’s finale aired just months later, they had already broken up.
Cameras were there to capture the pair’s split during what normally would’ve been one of their secret “happy couples” weekends. Instead, Luyendyk told Kufrin that he still had feelings for runner-up Lauren Burnham. He had previously reconnected with Burnham with Kufrin’s blessing, telling his then-fiancée that he just wanted to check in and make sure she was okay after their breakup.
However, the phone calls brought all of Luyendyk’s feelings back. By the time he appeared on the finale aftershow, he was already in a relationship with Burnham, and proposed to her during the live show while Kufrin was backstage. Clearly, Luyendyk’s heart knew what it wanted, as he and Burnham are still married with three kids and a fourth on the way.
1. Jason Mesnick
While there have been similar endings in more recent years, Jason Mesnick was the first to change his mind about his final pick after filming. It was such a jaw-dropping moment at the time and totally goes down in Bachelor Nation history.
Mesnick got engaged to Melissa Rycroft at the final rose ceremony on Season 13. However, during the live finale after-show, he revealed that he was still in love with runner-up Molly Malaney. Mesnick ended his relationship with Rycroft and started dating Malaney, which ended up working out — the two are now married and share a daughter.
