The Bachelor finale: What happened with Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham?
It was the moment that many people saw coming, but also the same moment that made it very hard for longtime viewers of the show to buy into. After all, last night we all saw Arie completely shatter the heart of someone he supposedly cared about in Becca Kufrin. This finale has been pretty terrible and, at times, unsympathetic.
So … are we supposed to be happy for these two now, especially after the way in which this proposal went down … after everything else that happened? How tone-deaf can Arie really be?
Let’s make this clear: It’s wrong to blame Lauren for really anything here given that she wasn’t openly trying to sabotage the relationship between Arie and Becca — she can’t help her having feelings and we shouldn’t blame her for having feelings. She’s not the one who broke up with Becca on-camera in a really heartless way. She’s entitled to live her life; unfortunately, the future isn’t going to be altogether easy on her.
The one thing we will blame Lauren for was being as cold as she was to the whole situation on After the Final Rose tonight — how do you not at least listen to some of what went down when it came to Arie and Becca? This stuff matters, and you know everyone else is going to talk to you about it at some point.
Hopefully, this does work out for Arie and he gets what he’s looking for — we won’t wish anything terrible on him. Yet, at the same time it’s hard to have confidence. This is someone who was already indecisive with one relationship through this season, and he doesn’t exactly have the best overall track record when it comes to some of the other women in his dating history.
We’re not going to overreact and say that hiring Arie was bad for ABC — after all, the ratings were great for the show last night and they probably will be again tonight. The thing that is damaging for the network is that their handling of this whole situation has people questioning their own intentions. They are basically now in the same position as some contestants on The Bachelor who come on wanting to just get Instagram followers or to promote their brand. They’ve got an ulterior motive that isn’t about love.
Hey, here’s some good news — Becca is officially The Bachelorette! With that, there is a light at the end of the terrible tunnel when it comes to all of the nuttiness that we saw over the course of the finale event.
What did you think about this proposal, and the way that both Arie and Lauren handled it? Share in the comments!
Meanwhile, you can like CarterMatt on Facebook to get some other insight regarding the Bachelor finale. (Photo: ABC.)