'The Bachelorette' finale elicits social media backlash

The roller coaster finale of Jenn Tran’s season of “The Bachelorette” has fans chirping on social media.

Tran, 26, who is training to be a physician’s assistant, first appeared on Joey Graziadei’s season of “The Bachelor” before being selected as the franchise’s next star. She was the first Asian American “Bachelorette” in the show’s 22-year history.

Tran attended the University of Pittsburgh from 2016 to 2018 — serving as a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, the American Medical Students Association and the Student Emergency Medical Services, according to her LinkedIn profile. She transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018 and graduated two years later.

In an interview with ABC News, Tran promised an “unprecedented ending” to this “Bachelorette” season.

The remaining two contestants were Devin Strader and Marcus Shoberg. Strader, 28, is a freight company owner from Houston, and Shoberg, 31, is an Army Ranger veteran from Raleigh, N.C.

After Tran sent Shoberg home, she got engaged to Strader, according to the episode. Then, host Jesse Palmer announced during the live portion of finale that the pair had actually broken up in the weeks since. As a result, the engagement clips wouldn’t be shown to the audience until Tran came out to discuss things.

Fans were shocked, Glamour reported, as Strader had pursued her “relentlessly” during the entire season, declared his love for her multiple times and nearly had a panic attack at the thought of losing her.

During the “After the Final Rose” segment, Tran talked about what had transpired. Afterward, Strader was brought out onstage to discuss with her how things went south on the hot seat.

Tran said Strader had a lot of doubts during filming and after the show, adding that he broke off the engagement in a 15-minute phone call sometime in August as the season was airing on ABC, USA Today reported.

“He basically said that he didn’t love me anymore and didn’t feel the same way,” she said, adding that “he denied ever being in love,” according to USA Today. As her mom cried in the audience, Tran said Strader refused to go to couples’ counseling and “didn’t want to fight for the relationship anymore.”

It was also revealed that he followed Maria Georgas on social media the day after breaking off the engagement, according to Tran, USA Today said.

“I can’t excuse the Instagram follow; I know how much that hurt you,” Strader said, USA Today reported. “Obviously, I failed you, and there’s nothing I can say other than that.”

Georgas was a favorite contestant on Graziadei’s season of “The Bachelor” and was also a contender to be the Bachelorette. She posted a video on TikTok Thursday night reacting to how she was mentioned during the finale, saying “Put it to REST” in the caption.

Put it to REST.

After the tense conversation between Tran and Strader about their relationship, the former couple then watched Tran propose to Strader and him proposing back to her alongside the studio audience. Tran could be seen sobbing in a small box at the bottom left of the screen, which was eventually removed, USA Today said, which the news outlet called “voyeuristic.”

Before the clip was shown, Tran could be heard saying, “Do I have a choice?” when she was asked by Palmer if she wanted to watch the engagement footage. There was no response to her question.

After the clip was played, people who were watching took to X to share their thoughts — with some going as far as saying they were done with the franchise since Tran had to endure watching the failed engagement live alongside her former fiancé, Glamour reported.

In an interview after the finale with Entertainment Weekly, Palmer shared his thoughts on the plot twist as the host asking Strader and Tran questions.

“I still don’t feel like Devin has ever said why things ended, or what changed,” he said during the interview. “As hard as it was to watch, I think we also saw an empowered woman, doing things on her terms.”

On her way to Los Angeles to begin “Dancing with the Stars” rehearsals, Tran spoke with Glamour about the public airing of the proposal, shedding light on her opinion. She said she knew the engagement was going to be shown.

“They walked me through the game plan and everything. I guess I just didn’t know how heavy I would be feeling in the moment,” Tran said. “It was a very hard thing to do to watch it back with him, but I also knew that it needed to be done because I wanted him to watch that part.”

When the finale went to commercial break, Tran said Strader asked why she wasn’t looking at him and asked her to do so, Glamour reported.

“And I was like, ‘No, you don’t deserve me to look at you. You don’t deserve that. I’m not giving you the time of day right now,’” she said. “Yeah, so it was awkward.”

Tran also revealed during the interview that certain girls have messaged her saying that Strader had been in their DMs, according to Glamour.

“I know how amazing I am and the things that I have to offer, but the fact that he’s sitting here telling me on the phone that he’s going to take this time to really work on himself and he is not going to date, but then turns right back around and lies to me … clearly that is not a me problem,” she said. “That is a you problem.”

Just after walking offstage at the finale was when Tran said she found out she was going on “Dancing with the Stars,” she told Glamour.

“I was crying and they were like, ‘You’re going on Dancing with the Stars, and you’ve got to get on a plane in 45 minutes, and you can’t pack anything. Make sure to have your ID,” she said. “I was like, ‘Is this real life? Is this really happening? Can people do this? Who pulls these strings?’”

The new season of “Dancing with the Stars” will premiere at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17 on ABC and Disney+, with episodes available for streaming on Hulu the next day, according to People.

Tran’s partner is Sasha Farber, and she will dance alongside other celebirites like Graziadei, Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher, Olympic bronze medalist and “pommel horse guy” Stephen Nedoroscik, convicted con artist Anna Delvey and more, People said.