Rick Rowell/ABC
The final four couples of 'Bachelor in Paradise'
Nick Viall, who was announced as the next 'Bachelor' last week, made it to his third finale of the franchise without finding love.
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the season three finale of Bachelor in Paradise.]
Bachelor in Paradise delivered three engagements and a breakup on Tuesday — all three of the teary eyed proposals complete with Neil Lane diamond engagement rings.
Heading into the finale of the ABC Bachelor summer spinoff series were couples Nick Viall and Jen Saviano, Josh Murray and Amanda Stanton, Evan Bass and Carly Waddell, and Grant Kemp and Lace Morris.
Bass and Waddell were first to exchange their final roses in Sayulita, Mexico, followed by Kemp and Morris. Both pairs walked away engaged.
When it came time for Viall and Saviano to assume the romantic oceanside proposal position, however, the two-time Bachelorette runner-up interrupted Saviano, breaking down in tears. "I wanted to say I was in love with you, but something in my heart just said I can't," he said. "Sometimes you wish you could tell your heart what to do, and if I could, I would tell it to choose you. I just feel like something's telling me to say goodbye. I'm sorry."
He continued, "My biggest fear is that I'm going to regret it." In his limo ride away, Viall added: "It's impossible to not think that ... maybe it's me. Maybe I am in my head too much. The scary part is if I'm incapable of saying 'I love you' to anyone ... I just need to figure out how to do that again."
Murray, brother to NFL quarterback Aaron Murray, and Stanton, a single mother of two, ended the finale on a happier note, as the pair also got engaged. The moment marked Murray's second finale engagement on the franchise after winning Andi Dorfman's season of The Bachelorette in 2014.
All four couples, minus Viall, then appeared on the live aftershow, After Paradise, which immediately followed Tuesday's finale. The three engaged couples confirmed that they are still together, and each pair is currently cohabitating. "We're like one big family," Murray said of Stanton's two daughters.
After teasing a big announcement, cohost Michelle Collins then revealed that Bachelor in Paradise has been renewed for a fourth season.
Though missing on the aftershow, Viall did take to Twitter shortly after the episode aired to say that it was "not easy saying goodbye to someone as incredible" as Saviano.
But he's looking ahead and hoping the fourth time will be the charm, as the 35-year-old software sales executive was announced as the next Bachelor on last week's After Paradise.
"I've had an interesting process through this journey, and it hasn't worked so far," he said about returning to the franchise, this time as leading man (returning to ABC in January 2017). "Hopefully, things will end up on a more positive note."
On Tuesday's After Paradise, Saviano admitted that she has "mixed emotions" about her ex's appointment, but said she has since moved on.
Viall was runner-up on two consecutive seasons of The Bachelorette: In 2014 on Dorfman's season, which ended with Dorfman engaged to Murray and, a year later, on Kaitlyn Bristowe's season (she is still engaged to Shawn Booth).
On Bachelor in Paradise, Viall again faced off against Murray over Stanton, with Murray getting his happy ending — again — on Tuesday night's finale.
Bachelor in Paradise, in its third season, has now produced five engagements with two weddings: Marcus Grodd and Lacy Faddoul wed on the season two premiere (they have since split and revealed the nuptials weren't legal); and last season's Tanner Tolbert and Jade Roper wed on the February ABC special, The Bachelor: A Celebration of Love.
The long-running franchise has often been knocked for its success rate — of 20 seasons of The Bachelor and 12 of The Bachelorette, eight couples remain together. Trista Rehn (season one), Jason Mesnick (season 13), Ashley Hebert (season seven) and Sean Lowe (season 17) all wed on TV, with Rehn also broadcasting her 10-year vow renewal ceremony with husband Ryan Sutter.
In three seasons, Bachelor in Paradise is on its way to producing as many TV wedding specials as the 32 combined seasons of Bachelor and Bachelorette.
Ben Higgins, who led the 20th season of The Bachelor, will also launch the franchise's first couple spinoff series when his show with fiancee Lauren Bushnell, Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After?, premieres Oct. 11 on ABC sister network Freeform.
Bachelor in Paradise
