Bachelor Blog: The Final Rose

The season finale of The Bachelor! It’s the Final Rose … the one where Matt Grant strings one girl along to the very end only to break her heart and propose to the other one. Isn’t that romantic??!

It was down to the final two women, Chelsea, the 24-year-old pharmaceutical sales rep, and Shayne, the 22-year old actress. Matt took each of them home to London to meet his parents.

Chelsea was first to meet the family and Matt’s brother had a test for her.

Matt’s brother: “If you end up with Matt and come and live with us, we would expect you to bring your wellies. Do you know what they are?”

Chelsea: “Sounds like rain boots, maybe?”

Matt’s brother: “Yes! Well done.”

“I was quite taken to be perfectly honest,” Matt’s brother later said in his interview. Matt’s mother also thought she was doing a good “selling job”. They had some bonding time in the kitchen where Chelsea admitted that it was hard to allow herself to be vulnerable because she was deathly afraid Matt would break her heart.

Chelsea thought the visit went better than she could have ever planned. Matt agreed and said goodbye to his “honey” for the evening.

Next, it was Shayne’s turn to impress her possible future in-laws. Matt and Shayne took a tour of London on a double-decker bus before going to the Grant home for lunch.

Shayne admitted she was shaking in her boots about the meeting and things got off to a little bit of a rocky start when Shayne spilled a drink on herself and giggled about it nervously.

Matt’s brother said, “When I first saw Shayne I thought ‘wow. Bleach blonde hair.’ To be honest, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think this was very Matt at all.”

But Matt’s brother and parents warmed up to Shayne over lunch. His mom told Shayne that she felt really at ease with her from the moment she met her. After she left the home, the family told Matt they felt Shayne was more sincere than Chelsea, but they disagreed who they thought was the better match for him. Matt’s brother thought it was Chelsea. Matt’s dad thought it was Shayne.

Next, Matt and the women spent their final nights together in Barbados. Matt and Chelsea went on a helicopter ride and then had a picnic on the beach. Matt continued to overuse the word “honey” during his time with Chelsea.

(I started to wonder if maybe he used those little pet names so he wouldn’t accidentally slip up and call the women by the wrong name. That sort of thing could happen when you’re dating more than one person.)

At the hotel, Chelsea said she had a present for Matt and gave him a box labeled ‘Matt’s California Survival Kit.’ It had cereal, a map and surf wax. (I’m thinking he liked the last present she gave him on their overnight date a little better.) Matt and Chelsea said they were falling in love with each other and had a difficult time leaving each other after kissing goodbye at the door.

The next day Matt said he was going to put Chelsea out of his head as he met Shayne on the beach. She ran up to him and jumped in his arms, wrapping her legs around him. “Shayne’s a little monkey. When she cuddles me it’s like a monkey holding on,” he said.

The couple went parasailing. Shayne went first, telling Matt, “If I don’t come back, I wish you and Chelsea well.”

When she was up in the air, she said she felt like an angel and daydreamed about being Matt’s wife.

Back at the hotel, Shayne also had a present for him. “This will be the most amazing gift that you’ll ever receive from me in our entire relationship,” she told him.

Matt unwrapped a double picture frame with photos of Shayne on the beach, with the words ‘I love you’ written in the sand.

(I’m guessing it was the ‘I love you’ part that was so spectacular and not the picture frame itself. Because if that was supposed to be the best present he was ever going to get from her, I was thinking ‘LAME’.)

After his final dates with both women, Matt said he hadn’t made a decision yet. He said he felt “buzzing and excitement” with Chelsea, while Shayne brought out “warmth and sincerity and genuineness.” But after some apparent soul searching, Matt said his choice became quite clear when he considered who would be the best lifelong partner.

Chelsea was the first woman to arrive in the limo. Matt told her that he fell for her early on and listed her good qualities, but …

That’s when Chelsea’s face fell. We’ve all watched enough Bachelor seasons to know that the “but” isn’t a good thing.

“But I came here to find my life partner and when I think about that long and hard I’m thinking I can’t give you everything that you need. I’m sorry you aren’t the one because you are incredible,” he said.

As Matt walked her back to the limo, he tried to soften the blow by reassuring Chelsea about his feelings for her. But at this point, it was more like salt in the wound. “At times I thought you were the one, many times. I think you are amazing and I wish you the best,” he said.

“I don’t understand for me she was the falsest person here. For me to be up against her?” she asked.

“If you think I’d end up with the falsest person here, you don’t know me,” Matt responded.

In the limo, Chelsea cried. “My relationships have been letdown after letdown after letdown. He’s a fool. He is a fool.”

(Maybe she’d have more luck with Matt’s brother. He did say he was quite taken with her!)

Okay, forget about the heartbreak. Now let’s focus on the couple that did work out …

Shayne was feeling anxious and nervous as she stepped out of the limo to meet Matt. “I’ve never had my heart in a man’s hands like this,” she said.

Matt gave his speech to her. “There’s been laughter, there’s been fun, there’s been kisses, there’s been monkey.”

(There’s been monkey??)

Then he got down on one knee and said, “I love you and I have something for you. Monkey will you marry me?”

Of course she said yes and that she loved him too, and when he put the ring on her finger she let out a big “woo hoo”.

After several seconds of kissing Shayne said, “Okay I have one thing to tell you. I will marry you under one condition, that you will never look at another woman for the rest of our lives. Because you have looked at way too many during our relationship.”

Matt promised and gave Shayne the final rose.

Next week “The Bachelorette” starts and DeAnna Pappas is looking for love among 25 eligible bachelors.

(You remember her. She was the outspoken Southern/Greek girl who blinked a lot. She was also the one that got dumped by that tool, Brad who refused to pick either of the women in the finale.)

I will probably be watching but I haven’t decided whether to blog about it or not. I’m also considering blogging about the comeback of The Mole in June. So let me know if you want more of my reality show musings. If enough of you beg, then we’ll see. If not, I will sit on the couch and happily watch TV without having to take copious notes. Ha ha. Until then …

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Tags: abc, Bachelor engaged, Bachelorette, Chelsea, DeAnna Pappas, Final Rose, ksat, london calling, Matt and Shayne, Matt Grant, proposal, Reality, Shayne Lamas, the bachelor

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