It was the 25th season of the bachelor, possibly one of the most controversial seasons yet. After watching the journey of Matt James date 32 women for more than two months, we found out how his journey for love ended.
In the last episode, James broke off his relationship with Michelle Young, a teacher from Minnesota. Many fans from Bachelor Nation were upset by this choice because Young was the fan favorite. He ended up giving his final rose to Rachael Kirkconnell, who he didn’t propose to, which was different from the usual endings of the show. The relationship between James and Kirkconnell didn’t last very long due to racist behavior from Rachael’s past. Pictures of Kirkconnell at a sorority party from 2018 were released to the public. The pictures were of her and her friends at an “antebellum-themed party”. The pictures caused the couple to break up and for the public to turn against Kirkconnell.
“I feel that the best seasons of the bachelor were the seasons where they had a lot of drama and beautiful women. There was a lot of drama throughout the season but was brought in by only 2 of the contestants, As for the beautiful girls I was unimpressed with the women on this season”, senior Morgan Cole said when asked about her opinion on the season.
Every season has an ‘After The Final Rose’ episode where the couple speaks out about their relationship. This episode for season 25 was very dramatic and depressing, James and Kirkconnell were struggling to have a conversation because of the harsh actions that Kirkconnell made in 2018. Kirkconnell made a public apology on live tv admitting that what she did was wrong saying she was naive and immature to have done that.
“When I questioned our relationship, it was in the context of you not fully understanding my Blackness and what it means to be a Black man in America”, James said in a statement posted on Monday, March 15th.
Based on him saying that it is obvious that he was heartbroken that he had feelings for a person that thought it was ok to do that.
“When I heard about what she did I was very appalled that someone would have taken part in actions like that. It doesn’t make it ok just because it was in 2018 to have partly taken in the action. I am glad about Matt’s decision of not being with a person like that”, senior Alana Hutton said when asked about Kirkconnell’s racial behavior.
Overall it was a very dramatic season of the bachelor. Many fights and rumors were passed around throughout the season. We will eventually see many cast members come to bachelor in paradise in the summer of 2021.