Bachelor Shockers!

Monday night’s finale of The Bachelor was messy, and the fallout has been even worse. Arie Luyendyk Jr. proposed to Becca Kufrin during the final rose ceremony in Peru, but then called off their engagement weeks later and admitted he still had feelings for runner-up Lauren Burnham.

But he didn’t just break up with Kufrin: he did as a part of the show, which has created a huge backlash for the producers and the Bachelor himself.

• One social media user summed up the reaction, writing: “I hate Chris Harrison and The Bachelor producers and ABC for even filming this.”
• Host Harrison stands by the decision though. “There was no way Arie was going to do this and look great,” the 46-year-old host said in an interview with ABC‘s Good Morning America that aired Tuesday. “In my opinion, you don’t get to just tell the fairytales.”

KUFRIN RESPONDS

• Kufrin sat down with People for an exclusive interview, telling the mag that while she believes he’s “a good person” who did not do this “purposely” to “hurt me,” she wishes he had never proposed. Or at least handled his second thoughts differently.
• “There was a better and more tactful way to do it,” she says of getting dumped on national television. “A breakup is hard enough, and to have it all filmed and have to re-watch it and know that people all across the country are watching you get your heart broken, it is embarrassing. It’s not fun. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It was like a slap in the face.”
• Luyendyk Jr. and Burnham are back together.

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BEKAH MARTINEZ SHARES PRIVATE DM

• Bekah Martinez, another contestant, says Luyendyk Jr. also reached out to her after the final rose ceremony. She shared them on Twitter.
• “DM’ing your ex is a good look too @ariejr,” Martinez wrote alongside the messages. She then tweeted, “Yeah Arie was probably being friendly but guess what I DON’T CARE HAHAHA, BOY BYEEEEE.”

THE DIAMOND

• Luyendyk Jr. selected a four-carat, platinum-set halo diamond worth $80K from Neil Lane to propose to Kufrin with. The current whereabouts of the ring are unknown, but many on social media are hoping she gets to keep it.
• The Bachelor contract, however, says that if you are not together for two years after the final day of the show airing, the ring must be returned.

MENSTRUAL CYCLE MANIPULATION

• But the unusual handling of a broken engagement isn’t the only thing that has landed The Bachelor in hot water online.
• According to Amy Kaufman‘s new tell-all Bachelor Nation, producers try to track “when the women in the house are menstruating” to create a certain “vibe.”
• Former Bachelor producer Ben Hatta told Kaufman: “If a girl’s feeling the butterflies for a guy already, when she gets into that state, her feelings just become more powerful, so she’s probably more willing to tell that guy she loves him. And maybe one of the producers knew she was in that emotional state and was like, ‘You know what? Now’s a better time than ever. You should do it, you should do it, you should do it!’