First Jillian dumped Kiptyn. Then Reid came back and proposed after already being rejected. Jillian, who had already made up her mind who she wanted to ask her to marry her, said she had to think about it. Then Chris talked her into dumping Reid, again. So then Ed arrived and proposed to her, and he ended up as The Bachelorette Season 5 winner.
With the season now over, it’s time to find out what’s happened after the final rose.
First up, Melissa is back. Getting dumped by Jason was probably the best thing that ever happened to her. First, she got to star on Dancing with the Stars because ABC felt sorry for her. Since then, she has gotten engaged (again), but based on how she talked about her ex boyfriends on The Bachelor, my expectations for her relationship are not much better than they are for Jason and Molly. Her new fiance, who was previously her ex, became her best friend again when she got on the TV. She thinks that Jason made the right choice.
Kiptyn is back to tell us what went wrong, assuming he actually knows. He put it all out there, perhaps too late, but this was the first time he’s had his heart broken. It kinda sucks. He asks Jillian what he could have done differently. Nothing. Well, that doesn’t help. He doesn’t wish he’d done anything earlier because when he did say the things he said, he actually meant them, instead of just saying them just to say them or for the camera. He doesn’t have any hard feelings.
Reid is, of course, back again, presumably as part of his diabolical plan to not miss an episode. He thinks maybe he should have said more during the dinner at Maui, but he hoped that their connection was enough to get him to the next stage, where he could then say how he felt. Why’d he come back to the show? In order to change his pattern of indecisiveness. He had to make about 10 phone calls to the producers, who no doubt at the time were trying to hide the fact that they were jumping up and down. When did he know that she wasn’t going to accept his proposal? That’s a good question… he expected her to accept it.
He asks Jillian whether there was a part of her that wanted to say yes. She rambles. I’m not sure what her answer is. Does he regret doing what he did? No, it was worth it. Like Kiptyn, Reid still loves Jillian. If he told her how he felt earlier, would it have changed anything? She made the right decision, which isn’t a no, but it’s not so much a yes either. She was so in love with Ed that she could never have let him go. The first question Reid gets from the audience is whether he’s started dating again, and if he’d like to go out on a date with the girl asking it. This girl should consider applying for The Bachelor if she wants a shot. It’s too early for Reid to consider dating again.
Jillian is happily engaged to Ed, and I’m assuming she has no plans to dump him this evening and then ask the runner up to go out with her instead. Apparently, now’s the part where we believe Ed chose Jillian over his career, when in reality he chose her in addition to his career, which is a completely fair choice, but no need to sugar coat it. He knew he was going to propose in Spain the night he went to the fantasy suite, which was the episode after his return to the show. The morning of the proposal, Ed thought there was no way she was going to pick him, but when he got up there that day, he felt pretty good. Jillian will be moving in with Ed in Chicago on September 1, although they’ve already been together for most of the time since the show as it is. They plan to certainly (probably) get married within the next 12 months. That excessive speed was quickly derailed when DeAnna and Jesse did it. Why rush?
The Bachelor 14 has already been confirmed for next season, but no choice has yet been made for who will be its star. I was assuming Kiptyn, but Reid certainly boosted his chances by coming on the show again and again.