After the Final Rose

It's After the Final Rose.

Melissa Rycroft makes an appearance. She's got much longer hair and thinner eyebrows since we saw her last. They replay the awful dumping by Jason Mesnick of Melissa (just so we can feel aggravated and awkward one more time). Chris basically asks of Melissa what everyone in the universe knows already: she got a call from Dancing with the Stars days after the Jason fiasco. Then she got engaged to her boyfriend, Ty. Is it me or did Melissa look MUCH better on the last After the Final Rose when she got dumped? Maybe it's her hair that I don't like. Ehhh, she's still a beautiful girl and agrees that Jason really did make the right choice (what else is she supposed to say?).

More depression commercials on now... what is up with these? I just asked the Fiance if he's ever had suicidal thoughts (which is one of the possible side effects of a medication for depression). There really must be a depressed group of people who watch this show.

Ok, back to the show. Kiptyn is brought out. Wow, he's really cute, and seems immediately smiley. The mostly female audience goes wild. They replay last night's rejection, which is kind of tough to watch. Kiptyn describes how tough getting rejected was. They bring Jillian out and she's got longer, darker hair and is wearing a cute little white dress. Kiptyn asks what he could have done differently. Jillian says he didn't do anything wrong - there were some times that she was fishing. Jillian gets emotional and tears up at hearing Kiptyn talk about his emotions. He says he holds no ill will for her and hopes that he'll find his own true love. Kiptyn seems very calm and collected. He is able to articulate his feelings. You can tell he really liked Jillian, but he doesn't seem head over heels anymore. Maybe that's just his personality. I wonder if he'd make a boring bachelor.

Side note: if this show was pre-taped a couple of days ago, then wouldn't the entire audience already know what the ending was ahead of the airing of the finale? I wonder if they made them sign a confidentiality agreement. But you know at least one of them had to of leaked the news. Or maybe they had them all on lock down.

We're back and it's Reid's turn. His hair is still really messy and Alfalfa-like, with a large spike in the back sticking up. The woman are going nuts in the audience. They replay his moment of coming back to tell Jillian that he loves her and to propose. Then they show his limo ride after where he's really upset and looks like he had a bottle with him in the back seat. We learn that Reid bought his own ring (which he sadly/sweetly says, "was not the greatest ring in the world"). Jillian had no idea that Reid was coming and Reid thought that Jillian was going to accept the proposal and he feels like a piece of his life is missing. So sad. I like Reid. He'd make a much more interesting Bachelor than Kiptyn and he definitely seems heartbroken - even more so than the Kipper.

They bring Jillian out and Reid asks whether there was a part of her that wanted to say "yes." Jillian immediately gets emotional and completely avoids the question by saying that she feels really bad. Chris H, the always subtle host, asks Reid if he still loves Jillian. He says yes. So sad. Reid asks her if he had told her earlier that he was in love, whether that would have changed anything. Jillian says that she was so in love with Ed, and she's been so happy the last couple of months, she knows she made the right decision. Reid seems to get a bit testy by saying he's got "lots of questions" including one about the fantasy suite. You can tell that Reid is not into Ed or at least not into Ed and Jillian. One audience member asks whether Reid is dating again and whether he'd like to go on a date with her. Both and Reid at the same exact time said, "How old are you?" Even though she looked like she was 10, at least Reid knows there are other people out there.

They bring Ed out and he looks so happy, so good! He looks totally relaxed and they are practically glowing. They replay the whole proposal and a woman in the audience is crying! This cracks me up. A woman in the audience asks him about his mankini shorts. Jillian says she loves them. Another audience member asks whether they are having any problems in the bedroom. Who on earth asks that? Luckily, we're all relieved to learn that they are ok. Ed and Jillian probably kiss about 50 times during their interview. They show some never before seen footage when the two of them were in Spain. A Spanish man tells them that if they walk under some arch, they will be married. They go under it. Yippee!!

We also learn that the two of them plan to marry within 12 months and that Jillian is moving to Chicago starting in September. Interestingly, ABC does not give them a gift, like they normally do for happy couples. Maybe they think it's a jinx.

So there we have it. Another season come and gone. But this time will we see a lasting happy couple? I sure hope so. Clearly - Jillian and Ed look extremely happy together. That leaves us with the potential next Bachelors being Kiptyn, Reid, Jake or Michael Stag (and his twin). I didn't like Reid's bitterness toward the results/Jillian on tonight's show. I know he was still upset and hurt, but still, he could have handled himself better. He basically said that Jillian seems happy (though he can't understand why) and she made her choice. He shouldn't have brought up the fantasy suite comment, but I guess that's what bitterness does do a person.

ABC did not announce who the next Bachelor is - they are probably waiting to see what the general feedback on each of the remaining men is. As long as it's not Dave, I think it'll be a good choice.

So that's all for now. Keep checking back here for updates. Our podcasts will continue as well - and discuss all the Bachelor gossip, our wedding plans (and gripes), and basically anything else that comes up. Hope you'll keep us posted on your whereabouts as well. Til next season, Bachelor fans...have a good night and a great rest of the summer!!