Seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are never without their fair share of melodrama and heartbreak, but the latest season of The Bachelor may have provided some of the most melodrama of the franchise to date thanks to leading man Arie Luyendyk's breakup with Becca Kufrin, who had originally "won" the season and received the final rose. Then, after the show had come to an end and Becca thought she was well on her way to a happily-ever-after, Arie dumped her on camera, choosing to go back to runner-up Lauren Burnham. The silver lining for Becca is that she scored the role of leading lady in the next season of The Bachelorette, and host Chris Harrison revealed how the controversial breakup with Arie impacted the show:
We've all been Becca. Many of us have been Arie -- when you have to break up with somebody you care about and maybe you did it really poorly like he did. But I think a lot of people relate to Becca and some people haven't let go of that. I will say this, Arie and Lauren are good. Becca's good. I'm not asking you to forget and just flush it all down, but maybe move on like Becca has. Becca's okay. So, I think it's all okay for all of us to move on. Let Arie and Lauren be. They're happy. They just got a house together. They're in love. Even I say, he was a knucklehead. He made some really dumb decisions. He didn't perform as perfectly as he probably would've liked. If he could go back, he'd probably fix some things. But he and Lauren are in love and at the end of the day, the most important thing is that he's with the girl he should be with and Becca's good. I would say: Just watch. She is over Arie for sure, but she takes those lessons and what happened into this season.
According to Chris Harrison in a chat with THR ahead of the big Bachelorette premiere, Becca truly has moved on from the breakup with Arie. The same may not be true for Bachelor franchise fans, many of whom rose up in support of Becca after watching Arie break her heart on camera and then offer pretty unsatisfactory excuses for why he did it, but good for Becca! Harrison's comments indicate that she learned from her experiences with Arie and will use those experiences in weeding out which men she does and doesn't want courting her during her time in the spotlight on The Bachelorette.
Of course, Chris Harrison also made sure to ask fans to "let Arie and Lauren be" now that their season of The Bachelor has come to an end. Presumably "letting them alone" means no more billboards condemning Arie for his actions, although Arie and Lauren may want to hold back from pulling any more pranks if they want to avoid the ire of folks on social media. It should be interesting to see if Becca's season of The Bachelorette reignites the rage against Arie or if her moving on will soothe fans more than ever.
After all, Becca has been enthusiastic about starring on The Bachelorette ever since the news broke, and she recently revealed that she's already engaged. Obviously she couldn't reveal the identity of the lucky man before her season actually premiered, but the engagement may mean that viewers are in for a happy ending, hopefully without an epilogue in which she breaks somebody's heart and confesses her lingering love for one of the gents she already eliminated.
We'll have to wait and see. Anything can happen on a season of The Bachelor and Bachelorette, and Becca may find herself at the center of even more melodrama before her time on reality TV has come to an end. The Bachelorette with Becca Kufrin as leading lady premieres on Monday, May 28 at 8 p.m. ET with a two-hour episode on ABC. Be sure to tune in to see what's next for Becca in the reality romance game. For your other viewing options now and in the not-too-distant future, check out our summer TV premiere guide and our 2018 Netflix premiere schedule.
