“You were always a constant, our love was always there, and I never doubted for a second how much you loved me,” Jenn told Devin on the episode, adding on air:
“I love you so deeply, Devin, but I can’t let you propose to me. I’ve decided to choose myself in this journey, and the best version of myself is when I’m with you…
“I want to fight for you every day. You’re everything that I’ve ever dreamed of but didn’t know that I could have. I want to wake up and choose you every day for the rest of my life.”
Tran then proposed with a wedding band in a seashell, prompting Devin to say “absolutely” he would marry her, “a hundred times over.”
Devin and Jenn Tran got engaged on The Bachelorette finale. But will not be getting married. (ABC)Hooray, right?!?!? Such a happy ending, right?
Wrong, folks.
ABC proceeded to cut to the After the Final Rose ceremony, which featured Jesse Palmer sitting in studio with Tran.
“It’s been a really hard couple of months. We had left Hawaii engaged, very very happy. It was the happiest day of my life,” Tran said to explain what had transpired after this fairy tale ending.
“As soon as we had left Hawaii, things were just different. It kind of felt like he was pulling away, all the promises he had made to me of wanting to move somewhere together and have this future planned out.”
Jenn Tran and Devin seemed to happy on The Bachelorette… until it all fell apart. (ABC)Jenn continued as follows: “The efforts were inconsistent. He wasn’t calling as much, texting as much. I was confused.”
The first-ever Asian-American Bachelorette did her best to go on through tears, saying that Devin eventually called and broke off their engagement.
“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,” she said. “He regretted getting engaged and I didn’t know.”
Wow, huh?
Jenn Tran meets Devin on the first night of her Bachelorette season. (ABC)Devin then came out himself, seeing Jenn for the first time in weeks. The tension between the former lovers was palpable.
“What I can’t understand is everything that you did after you broke our engagement,” Jenn said, noting that he started to follow ex-Bachelor contestant Maria Georgas on social media.
“Not only is that so disrespectful to everything that we had shared together, I just don’t understand it, why you would do something like that. It completely invalidated the entire relationship.”
Devin didn’t respond directly to this criticism, but he didn’t hide from how royally he effed up, either.
Jenn Tran in a promotional photo for The Bachelorette. (ABC)“I failed you,” Devin said. “And there’s nothing I can say other than that. But everything I felt for you was real.”
Jenn doubted his intentions and his emotions, however, bringing up how Devin had previously asked for “time and space” to “process your emotions,” but then went clubbing in New York City.
“When we left the show, I had a lot of doubts,” Devin replied. “I did come clean to you about that.”
Devin contended that he “hid all these feelings of doubt” both on The Bachelorette and shortly after they finished shooting.
“It’s hard to sit here and deny what you’re accusing me of,” he said. “I was regretfully late on letting you know. I can only sit here and take accountability for my shortcomings.”
Jenn Tran didn’t get her happily ever after on The Bachelorette. (ABC)To her credit, Tran kept things real and raw in this discussion.
“I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, I wanted to have a family with you, and you didn’t feel those things,” she told Devin. “You had one foot out the door the entire time. … I am heartbroken every Monday night watching the lies you said to me on TV.”
After a commercial break, Devin said:
“I’m not here to save face. I have nothing to gain by being here other than to make sure that you’re okay, which is what I came here to do.”
He concluded his mea culpa thusly:
“I watched this beautiful girl flourish. It was amazing to watch you. I found myself falling short in the real world. … I watched you grow and then I watched myself contribute to your regression.”
To wrap up the finale, Palmer applauded Jenn’s strength throughout her journey — despite this heart-shattering conclusion.
“You showed all of us what a strong and powerful woman is,” the former Bachelor lead said.
