Author: Jackie Strause, Christina Schoellkopf

August 30, 2016 6:54pm PT by Jackie Strause, Christina Schoellkopf

Nick Viall  Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

Nick was a runner-up on ‘The Bachelorette’ — twice — and is currently appearing on ‘Bachelor in Paradise.’

Nick Viall is getting his fourth shot at love on the Bachelor franchise.

After being the runner-up on two seasons of The Bachelorette, ABC announced that Nick, who is currently appearing on Bachelor in Paradise, will be the next Bachelor. The announcement came on Tuesday’s After Paradise, the aftershow for the summer spinoff series.

“I’m definitely ready for it — I’m really excited,” Nick told cohosts Michelle Collins and Sean Lowe about his appointment as leading man for the 21st cycle. “I couldn’t be more excited about the possibility of it working out.”

Nick placed second on Andi Dorfman’s season of The Bachelorette in 2014. One year later, he returned to the franchise, only to have his heart broken again on national television as runner-up with Kaitlyn Bristowe.

Though Bachelor viewers, who are collectively referred to as Bachelor Nation, have watched Nick lose out on two fiancees, he is also remembered for his behavior on Andi’s After the Final Rose. During the live post-finale special, he revealed that the pair had sex during the private fantasy suite dates. Andi, who chronicled the slut-shaming she experienced as a result in her book, ended up choosing Josh Murray. The pair, however, ultimately split.

Nick and Josh are both currently on Bachelor in Paradise, where they once again fought over the same girl, with Josh winning out. 

“I’ve made my mistakes,” Nick admitted to Collins. “I’ve had an interesting process through this journey, and it hasn’t worked so far. Hopefully, things will end up on a more positive note.”

The After the Paradise hosts acknowledged Nick’s turnaround from bad boy to fan-favorite, with Collins referring the Bachelor as his “redemption” season. 

Nick is currently dating Jen Saviano on Bachelor in Paradise, and Collins called his Bachelor announcement a spoiler alert for how their relationship will play out. (The finale airs on Tuesday.)

“You’ll have to watch to see how it ends,” said Nick, with a smirk. He then answered what qualities he’s looking for as the Bachelor: “Someone who is confident and knows their own self-worth. And somebody who makes me a better person and challenges me and isn’t afraid to give as much as I like to.”

Nick’s appointment as leading man comes as a surprise, as the franchise typically selects a fan favorite from the previous season of The Bachelorette.

Before the last-minute switch, Luke Pell, who placed fourth during Joelle “JoJo” Fletcher’s most recent season, had been the frontrunner pick since his elimination, according to show sources.

Collins, who cohosts the weekly hourlong aftershow with former Bachelor Lowe, teased the announcement ahead of the episode on social media and told viewers during the show, “You’re going to die” about the pick.

Franchise creator Mike Fleiss, who had initially promised that he would make the announcement on his Twitter account, spent the night teasing who the Bachelor wouldn’t be, naming both Luke and JoJo’s runner-up, Robby Hayes.

Tuesday’s After Paradise also revealed that a fan-favorite couple of Bachelor in Paradise has split. After leaving the show together on Tuesday’s episode, Caila Quinn and Jared Haibon appeared on the aftershow to give an update on their relationship.

“We just couldn’t really get past Paradise,” said Caila, referring to castmember Ashley Iaconetti getting between them. “Friends call him often and he answers and things were brought up that we couldn’t really let go of. It made it hard to move forward.”

Though Caila met Jared’s parents, they ended the relationship after six weeks due to “other forces.”

When Jared appeared, he confirmed that he and Ashley are still friends, and when Ashley surprised the pair on-air, she told Collins that she doesn’t feel responsible for Caila and Jared’s split.

The decision to announce the Bachelor on After Paradise could boost show ratings.

Since its first season, which was hosted by Chris Harrison, After Paradise has seen a drop. In the three weeks it’s aired, the same-day ratings have been 0.6, 0.5 and 0.7, respectively, in the 18-49 demo.

ABC’s decision to cast Nick as the next Bachelor continues the long-running franchise’s diversity woes. Of all 20 seasons of The Bachelor, there has only been one diverse star — American-born Venezuelan Juan Pablo Galavis.

ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey was again pressed about the lack of diversity on the franchise at last week’s Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, where she explained that the challenge is to get more diverse candidates on the show from the start. For the last several seasons, the new Bachelor or Bachelorette has been a popular castmember from the previous cycle. For JoJo’s season, there were 21 white and six nonwhite contestants and her final eight were all white. 

“I would very much like to see some changes,” admitted Dungey. “It’s worked very well for us because the audiences feel really engaged [in choosing] that candidate. What we’d like to do is broaden that. We need to increase the pool of diverse candidates in the beginning. That is something we really want to put some effort and energy towards.”

Season 21 of The Bachelor will air in December on ABC.

The Bachelor

August 01, 2016 7:02pm PT by Jackie Strause, Christina Schoellkopf

Joelle Fletcher, ‘The Bachelorette’  Matt Klitscher/ABC

Jordan Rodgers, a former NFL quarterback, and Robby Hayes, a former competitive swimmer, were JoJo Fletcher’s final two.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the Season 12 finale of ABC’s The Bachelorette.]

The Bachelorette star Joelle “JoJo” Fletcher handed our her final rose on Monday and in return, she accepted a diamond engagement ring.

The last two men standing were former pro football player Jordan Rodgers, 27, and former competitive swimmer Robby Hayes, 27. After admitting that she had fallen in love with both of her final two men, JoJo ultimately picked Jordan, who then got down on one knee and proposed. 

“Joelle Hannah Fletcher, will you marry me?” he asked.

“I’m shaking!” she said while accepting his proposal and finally uttering the words: “I love you. I’m in love with you.”

“This is the best day of our life,” they told the camera while hugging before an exotic backdrop in Phuket, Thailand.

Jordan, who has been the seasonlong frontrunner, also received JoJo’s “first impression rose” on the first night. Though her attraction to Jordan was immediate, the road to finding their happily ever after was still bumpy — and one that left a heartbroken Robby reeling in JoJo and Jordan’s rearview mirror.

During the final episode, a torn JoJo introduced both Jordan and Robby to her family when her mother, father, two brothers and sister flew out to meet their daughter in Phuket, Thailand.

“I’m standing here in Thailand with two men that I love,” she said to the camera, explaining why she won’t tell them, “I love you” just yet. “When I’m with Robby, I think of Jordan and when I’m with Jordan, I think of Robby. I want the type of man I would always be able to trust.”

But the introductions did not go off without a hitch, as JoJo’s mother expressed reservations about Jordan. While Jordan backed out when it came time to ask JoJo’s dad for permission to propose to his daughter, Robby sat down with both of her parents to tell them how much he loves JoJo, a move that brought them both to tears.

“She will be my number one priority of life in all that I do,” he said when asking not just for her hand in marriage but for “all that is Joelle Fletcher.” He continued, “If I’m fortunate enough to receive that blessing, I can promise you both to protect her and to care for her for my entire life.”

“She trusts you. She believes in you. She loves you,” her dad replied. “I am honored if you would be my son-in-law.”

When speaking alone with her family after, JoJo worried about feelings of regret after they told her Robby seems like a “better fit” and more like husband material.

“If I ended up with Jordan and if things ever did get tough and it didn’t work out, I’d always regret not going with Robby,” she said in tears. “And if I went with Robby, I’d always wonder, what if this other life, what if that was the life I was meant for?” 

She was shocked to learn that Jordan didn’t ask for her father’s blessing.

“In my overnight with Jordan, he talked about how important that was and there was no doubt in my mind that he was going to take that moment,” she said. “Why didn’t Jordan do that?”

On the day she was set to receive a proposal, JoJo still didn’t know which man she would pick as she read letters written to her by each. Both men were prepared to go on bended knee, as Jordan and Robby selected Neil Lane engagement rings. 

Ultimately, JoJo questioned herself and her ability to make a choice between the two.

“I feel like I’m having a panic attack,” said JoJo in tears to the camera about making a decision. “I don’t know if there’s also a reason that I am having this much of a struggle. I pray to God I’m not making a huge mistake.” 

JoJo, who had her heart broken when she was a runner-up during the last season of The Bachelor with Ben Higgins, called the experience “cruel and twisted irony” going into the finale. Ben broke the rules by telling both JoJo and his eventual winner, Lauren Bushnell, that he loved both of them. 

Going into the finale, JoJo admitted to the camera that she, too, had fallen in love with both of her final two men. “I’m sick to my stomach knowing I feel so strongly about both of them,” she said. “It pains me to know that I’m going to have to put someone through the same heartbreak that I felt.” 

When the moment finally came, Robby was first out of the limo. “When I leave today, I will be engaged,” he said, having no idea what he was walking into.

“My heart yearns for you and I undoubtedly am wholeheartedly in love with you,” he said. “It’s love so deep it makes me weak in the knees.”

He added, “I want to be with you forever, I will love you forever.”

She interrupted him, saying, “I can’t let you get down on one knee. I can’t let you do that because I don’t want to take that moment from you.”  

“Robby, I woke up this morning wanting it to be you. Every day, I’ve been wanting it to be you,” she said through tears as his face dropped. “I fell in love with you but for some reason, my heart is somewhere else.”

When he asked her what was missing, she couldn’t answer: “You deserve the type of love that you have given me. You don’t get how badly I wanted it to be you.”

Covering is face as she hugged him, he told her: “All I want is for you to be happy. Hopefully in the end you are.”

The rejection came as a shock, especially after their seemingly perfect last date where they spoke openly about the future. “You have a heart of gold,” JoJo had told Robby, who said he wants to make her the happiest woman in the world. “I feel that love, it’s the craziest thing Robby. I don’t have doubts with you.” 

She even told the camera, “It hasn’t been until the love that he has for me that I did realize what I truly deserve and what my worth is — that’s how you know it’s true love. I see a lifetime with him. And that makes me excited to say ‘Yes’ to Robby.”

For his part, Robby told the camera he will fall to his knees when he hears JoJo finally tell him she loves him. “There’s a part of me that says, ‘It can’t not work.’ The only reserves I have, is that maybe I’m blinded by my love.”

When Robby’s worst fears came true, he hugged her goodbye and told her, “Don’t settle. Please don’t settle.”

In the limo ride away, he could barely wrap his head around the events. “I’ve been waiting for her to tell me she loved me and she did, but she didn’t let me get down on one knee. In what world is that allowed to happen?”

“I don’t even know if me telling him I loved him matter,” she told the camera. “He deserved to know.”

JoJo, after crying hysterically, then collected herself before Jordan’s arrival.

“The only thing that’s getting me through this moment is seeing Jordan,” she said. “Because I am so crazy in love with him.”

During their final date together, Jordan had said he knew he’d make it to the finale after their first two dates. But when she pressed him about why he didn’t initially ask her father for his blessing, she wasn’t satisfied with his answer.

“I want you to know that it’s right and I want your family to know that’s what you want, and then I will feel comfortable asking your dad,” he said.

The conversation left her feeling scared: “Now I have all these doubts again.”

He added later, “I’m okay taking that leap of faith because I love you that much and I don’t want to lose you.”

But she said it all makes her wonder if he’s being “100 percent honest with himself.” Adding, “I don’t know if you’re 100 percent ready for an engagement, but I know you want to be with me.”

When it came time for him to take that walk, he fulfilled his promise that he would get down on one knee. Earlier in the day, he called JoJo’s parents and finally asked for their blessing, which they gave him — and which he told her in his note.

He told her: “I fell in love first with just us. The person I could be right away with you.

“You made me believe that love doesn’t need to have scripts and there’s not one way to draw it up. I’m so unbelievably in love with you.

“I’m going to wake up every morning and chose you over, and over, and over again.”

And she said: “Jordan, I love you so much. I’ve been waiting to tell you that I love you. I didn’t want you to get down on one knee without telling you that.”

ABC’s After the Final Rose special kicked off immediately after, featuring JoJo and Jordan together, for the first time, as a couple, and JoJo reuniting with a scorned Robby face-to-face for the first time since the finale. 

Robby was first to take the hotseat during the live post-show, telling Chris Harrison that his immediate thoughts in Thailand were of shock and of being “blindsided.”

“A wave of disappointment,” is how he described it, adding that he felt no clarity, even watching the episode back. “In that moment, I was thinking about all the future plans we had made, all the times we had discussed looking forward to after this … I had to watch [all] that drift away over that horizon.”

Telling the host that he was confused, he explained that he was so confident going into the proposal that he was convinced he was the only guy left in Thailand.

“I wanted it to be her, but unfortunately for me, it wasn’t,” he said. Still, he added: “I respect the hell out of Jordan, he’s one of my great friends, and I respect her decision-making.”

Are you happy with JoJo’s pick? Sound off in the comments section below and share your thoughts on Twitter using the #THRose hashtag. 

The Bachelorette