The Bachelorette: After The Final Rose

Another season of the Bachelorette ends happily. (for now) Emily Maynard offers her final rose to entrepreneur Jef Holm. Jef proposes to Emily with a $90,000 ring. She accepts the ring – and Jef! Ricki joins her mom and new daddy after the proposal. Leading us right into the Bachelorette After the Final Rose special. Live this year… to bring us the “latest news” and “shocking secrets.” All lies. More likely, the decision to tape it live is to keep the end to Emily’s journey seemingly more secret and dramatic than it really is.

Speaking of drama, Chris Harrison promised us a dramatic finale unlike any other. I must have slept through those parts. Except for the lackluster proposal spot, it felt like most other Bachelor and Bachelorette finales. There have been more exciting and unusual finales. Once again, Chris Harrison lies. “The most dramatic something or other”… whatever, Chris. We’re on to you!

Chris Harrison gets right to it. When Emily comes on stage, Chris suggests she looks like she is in love. “I am!” says Emily.

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What is it about Jef?

“I could talk about Jef’s great qualities all day long,” says Emily. “He brings something out of me – he makes me feel more confident and inspires me to be better.”

But, before all the happy news, they have to deal with Arie Luyendyk, Jr . Emily crushed Arie’s heart, blindsiding him the day before the final events with the news that she loves Jef more. Arie says he was completely taken by surprise. Viewers obviously got to see Arie and Emily’s physical relationship, but they had many great conversations as well. Arie says his big mistake was not even considering that Emily could have the same connection, let alone a deeper one, with anyone else. He was blind to the thought, and the closer it got to the end of the journey, the more Arie solely focused on what came next. In the end, Arie lost focus of the “now.”

Arie says he didn’t feel closure and returning home was hard.

Emily apologizes. She explains, Arie is everything she could ever want, but she has more long-term confidence in what she was with Jef. (Meaning, Arie would be fun to sleep with for awhile but not much else.) Emily takes responsibility for not better explaining herself to Arie in the moment. This process has taught her that she needs to be more assertive.

After returning home, Arie flew to Charlotte to see Emily. He was looking for that closure but ultimately decided not to barge in on her life. Arie simply called Emily and told her he was going to leave his journal for her to read. So, Arie flies to Charlotte, leaves his journal on her doorstep, and flies back home. Hasn’t he ever heard of priority mail? Emily didn’t even read the journal! Arie is in a good place now. Jef and Arie are still close. Watching the show helped Arie better understand what Jef and Emily share.

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It’s time to reunite the happy couple! Emily talks about how perfect Jef is for her. She gushes, “Jef is so great, and he even helped Arie move on.” She explains that Jef never felt threatened by what Emily shared with Arie because he’s so confident in what she and Jef share. That must be some crazy confidence to not feel anything at all after all the kissing Emily and Arie did. This topic never comes up, which is a shame, considering the tongue-lashing Emily gave Brad Womack on their After the Final Rose. I wanted to see her get a taste of her own medicine.

Jef joins the party. He says Emily is perfect for him. Jef and Emily have spent many weekends together since filming ended. Ricki was included in a few of those times. Jef and Emily watch Jef’s proposal together for the first time.

What’s next for these two? Well, a humanitarian trip to Africa to build wells, of course. I cannot picture Princess Emily getting dirty in Africa. Jef and Emily have decided that Jef will move to Charlotte, for Ricki’s sake. Jef will have his own place, work remotely for his company, and then they’ll decide where their forever place will be after they’re married. No commitment on when that’ll be – guess the TV deal isn’t a done deal yet. Good luck, Jef! You’re going to need it.

NEXT BACHELOR – SEAN OR ARIE?

Photo credit: ABC

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