Whether you believe that a reality television show could lead to actual, real-life love or not, The Bachelor franchise has produced some married couples. Some even have families of their own now, with their own adorable kids and #sponcon-built homes. Unfortunately though, those seem to be the exception and not the rule. There are plenty of failed Bachelor Nation engagements that show the premise of these shows isn't too well-suited for a long-lasting relationship.
Seriously, imagine: You're dating one person while they're dating 30 people. You have to live with your dating competition, and you have no Wi-Fi, phone access, or anything to distract you from your jealousy. And what if you are the one person that other person chooses? Well, you get engaged just minutes after they broke up with the runner-up. This all seems ridiculously problematic and not at all conducive to a healthy relationship, regardless if you're into monogamous or non-monogamy. Yes, some do survive the nearly insurmountable odds. But while many come out of Bachelor shows with an engagement, not all remain engaged, and even fewer lead to happily-ever-afters. Here are some of the biggest break-ups to hit engaged #BachelorNation couples – one as recent as this past month.
On Andi Dorfman's season of The Bachelorette, on After the Final Rose, runner-up Nick Viall famously questioned Dorfman why she "made love" to him if she wasn't "in love" with him. Viall's public questioning of their intimate time together caused a huge riff between Dorfman and her then-fiancée Josh Murray, the winner of her season, Dorfman later said.
"That one sexual escapade [with Nick Viall] would become a power play used by my fiancé to justify his mistrust in me," Dorfman said in her book It's Not Okay: Turning Heartbreak into Happily Never After. "It would be an excuse to call me a whore. And it would eventually lead to the demise of my engagement."
The two broke up in January 2015, which led to Dorfman writing a New York Times best-selling memoir about the breakup. Dorfman went on to write a second novel, Single State of Mind, while Murray returned to reality television and got engaged to – then broke up with - another franchise favorite, Amanda Stanton.
Soon before their planned winter 2011 wedding, Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez broke up. Martinez was the finalist on her season of The Bachelorette, and they were allegedly having issues long before they officially called off their engagement.
"I wouldn’t be being truthful if I said this came out of nowhere,” Fedotowsky told People in 2011. "We definitely had been having problems. But I had always believed that we could work it out." Fedotowsky married Kevin Manno in 2017, and the two children together, Molly and Riley.
Fedotowsky was rooting for a Martinez Bachelor season (we could've had him instead of a certain race car driver).
"I would love to see him be The Bachelor," Fedotowsky told People in December 2017. "I would totally be down for that. I think he needs to meet somebody. I think he would be a great choice. And it would be awesome to switch it up and have a non-white Bachelor."
While the exact cause for Chris Soules and Whitney Bischoff's break up has been unclear, it's possible that his post-Bachelor stint on Dancing with the Stars could have strained the relationship. Former Bachelor Sean Lowe had attested to how hard it is to maintain a new relationship while going to the demanding Stars dance rehearsals, spanning several hours.
"I was rehearsing 10 or 12 hours a day, so my new fiancée was basically just on her own, which was really unfair to her" Lowe told ET Online.
But post-breakup, Soules maintained he and Bischoff remained close.
"She [Bischoff] just went out for a glass of wine with my sister the other night,” Soules told OK Magazine in 2015. "We went through a really crazy thing and I’m lucky to have her in my life as a friend as a result."
Bischoff married Ricky Angel, whom she met on a dating app, in October 2017.
On Ben Higgins' season of The Bachelor, he told his top two finalists Lauren Bushnell and Jojo Fletcher that he was in love with both of them. This unprecedented show move led to many problems between him and his fiancé, Bushnell, post-show. The formerly engaged couple documented life after The Bachelor on another reality television show, Happily Ever After? On that show, Higgins called off his engagement to Bushnell, then the two broke up in May 2017.
Higgins has returned to the franchise to find love on The Bachelor Winter Games, while Bushnell is now dating Devin Antin, who she matched with on Tinder.
After appearing on Andi Dorfman's, and later, Kaitlyn Bristowe's seasons of The Bachelorette and a short relationship on Bachelor in Paradise with Jennifer Saviano, Viall finally had his own season. He proposed to Canadian Vanessa Grimaldi at the end of it, and she supported him during his run on Dancing with the Stars. The couple ultimately broke up in August 2017.
"It's with a great amount of heartbreak for the both us as we have decided to end our engagement," Viall and Grimaldi told E! News. "We gave this relationship our all and we are saddened that we did not get the fairytale ending we hoped for. We will continue to be there for each other no matter what. This hasn't been an easy decision, however, as we part ways, we do so with lots of love and admiration for each other."
The most recent of Bachelor break-ups is Bachelor in Paradise season four couple Taylor Nolan and Derek Peth. Peth was on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette, while Nolan first appeared on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor. The two got engaged a year ago, but remained long-distance while Nolan lived in Seattle, and Peth in New York City.
"It is with much sadness that we have decided to end our engagement," Nolan and Peth told People magazine in a nearly-identical statement to that of Viall and Grimaldi's. "We put everything we could into our relationship and are heartbroken to go forward separately, but we know this is the best decision for the both of us. We will still be present in each other’s lives with support, admiration and respect for each other."
While Clare Crawley seemed unsure of her feelings toward Benoit Beausejour-Savard during The Bachelor Winter Games in 2017, it was revealed on the season's after-show The Bachelor Winter Games: World Tells All that they got together when the cameras stopped rolling. He proposed to Crawley after they announced they were together, but the couple split soon after, in April 2018.
These two had quite the tumultuous relationship. Courtney Robertson was framed as the villain on Ben Flajnik's season of The Bachelor, but still won his heart anyway. When Flajnik got down on one knee, he hadn't yet seen the edit Robertson would later receive. They broke up while the season aired, but got back together by the finale. They separated for good in October 2012. Robertson wrote about her experience on the show in her book, I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain.
Robertson was later linked to eventual Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr.
This will probably go down as one of the most painful moments to watch as a viewer in Bachelor history. While Arie Luyendyk Jr. proposed to Becca Kufrin on his own season finale (after Kufrin's own ex flew to Peru in an attempt to win her back), he soon had second thoughts on his decision. Wanting to "switch" his choice, Luyendyk Jr. dumped Kufrin on what she thought was a "happy couple's weekend" visit. The break-up aired fully and unedited on the season finale. Luyendyk Jr. is now engaged to his runner-up Lauren Burnham, and Kufrin is ~searching for love~ as the lead on The Bachelorette.
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