The time has finally arrived…this week brings us the season 11 finale of ABC’s The Bachelorette.
We finally find out whom Kaitlyn chooses:
Nick Viall, the “villainous” guy from the previous season of The Bachelorette, who joined while the season was in progress and right away, stirred things up. While other guys focused on how much they didn’t want him there, Nick snuck his way closer and closer to Kaitlyn.
Or,
Shawn Booth, the personal trainer who was given the “first impression rose” on the very first day from Kaitlyn. Shawn was overly confident when Kaitlyn told him he was “the one” off-camera, however, his feud and hatred for Nick has somewhat intervened his initially strong connection with Kaitlyn.
The final episode begins with Nick going to meet Kaitlyn’s family. Before going into the house, Kaitlyn tells Nick that she told her family about “going too far” with him off-camera. Nick is visibly shocked to hear that Kaitlyn revealed this to her family. However, sure enough, Nick is able to win over her family’s adoration and eventually gets both her parents’ blessings for marriage (seemingly within minutes of meeting them…demonstrating the magic of The Bachelorette).
The next day, it is Shawn’s turn to meet Kaitlyn’s family. Right off the bat Kaitlyn’s mom rightfully expresses her concern that Shawn might be a jealous person, as he has shown jealousy throughout an experience he knew coming in would involve plenty of other men. However, this concern all resolves and unsurprisingly Shawn wins over her parents’ blessings as well. Shawn does seem to get a leg up, as Kaitlyn’s sister reveals she is officially #TeamShawn.
Both men have their final dates with Kaitlyn. Nick and Kaitlyn’s last date goes well, and as per usual Nick feels confident that he is the one this time around.
However, Shawn’s date doesn’t start off so well, when they meet initially things feel awkward as they both are obviously nervous about the final rose ceremony the next date.
They meet up later for dinner and things begin loosening up as they share their feelings, as well as their fears for the future to each other.
Once again, it seems Nick and Shawn are tied for the final rose. Although to me, it seems that Nick and Kaitlyn seemed a lot more natural and passionate during their date.
Both men pick out their ring from resident Bachelorette jeweler Neil Lane and get dressed-up to hopefully end the night off with an engagement.
After various shots of Kaitlyn, Nick and Shawn gazing out to the abyss from their hotel decks, Kaitlyn and the final two head to the bachelor mansion for the final rose ceremony.
SPOILER:
At the ceremony, Kaitlyn, wearing a sparkly dress (which seems to be a reoccurring theme in her bachelorette wardrobe) first has a one-on-one conversation with Nick. After his heart-felt speech, as Nick begins to propose to her, Kaitlyn stops everything and says, “I’m sorry,” indicating Nick isn’t the one.
As Kaitlyn tries to explain herself, Nick is shaken and tells her he would prefer not to hear how she “loves or loved him.” He goes on to tell her, “it is not fair for you to tell me what I feel, you feel the same, because you don’t.”
It’s safe to say Nick will probably not have any faith in the process of The Bachelorette here on out, as he leaves in the limo saying “I’m the world’s biggest joke.”
With Nick out of the picture (although Shawn doesn’t know this yet), Shawn arrives to the mansion. He right away begins spitting out the script he had prepared to recite to Kaitlyn.
Soon after, Kaitlyn reveals that she is completely Shawn’s, which leads Shawn to getting down on one knee and proposing.
Shaking, Kaitlyn accepts Shawn’s proposal and a new Bachelorette engagement is born. Hopefully, this one has a better fate than the majority of them (only 3 out of 11 Bachelorette’s are still with their season’s winners).
Well, there really weren’t many surprises to the night. I think most, even people who don’t watch the show could have guessed that Kaitlyn would end up being proposed. The only question was, whether it would be to Nick or Shawn.
However, Kaitlyn unfortunately did SnapChat a picture with Shawn earlier in the season, which actually showed the two in bed. This indicated that Kaitlyn was spending seemingly more-than-friends time with Shawn after filming had ended.
While many people wanted to believe this was a publicity stunt of some kind, as the season went on and Shawn continued to be given a rose, it was obvious that this was an unfortunate giveaway.
Well, that’s it for The Bachelorette season 11. Now we wait to find out who the next bachelor will be, as many are speculating it to be Ben H.
However, you can catch more bachelor/bachelorette action next week as the new season of Bachelor’s In Paradise begins, which includes alumni such as Ashley S. and Ashley I. from Chris Soules’ season and JJ and Jared from Kaitlyn’s.
The Bachelor In Paradise airs on Sunday, August 2 on ABC and then again during its regular time-slot on Monday, August 3.