The Bachelor: How Long Each Couple Lasted, From Shortest to Longest
It’s time once again for The Bachelor to hand out more roses. But as we all know by now, those roses tend to wilt in a hurry.
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For more than two decades now, ABC’s reality franchise has sold us a swoony fairy-tale idea of romance, with a dashing bachelor choosing one woman from among dozens with the intention of marrying her. With 28 seasons in the books, though, The Bachelor has a shockingly low success rate. According to our calculations, no matter which girl Grant chooses to receive his final rose this season, he and his chosen lady have less than a four percent chance of getting married and staying together for the long haul. (Good luck, guys!)
As a new Bachelor season dawns, we’re taking a stroll down a rose petal-strewn memory lane with a list of all the Bachelor relationships, in order of how long they lasted together after the season finale aired, from shortest to longest. As you’ll see, many more relationships fizzled out before they even left the After the Final Rose taping than actually made it down the aisle — and it turns out you have a better chance at true love if you’re the runner-up rather than the winner. (Note: We’re just looking at The Bachelor here, not The Bachelorette or any of the various spinoffs. For a rundown of The Bachelorette‘s relationships, click here. And for Bachelor in Paradise, click here.)
Read on to see which couples didn’t make it out of the starting gate… and which, against all odds, are still going strong.
Brad and… no one: 0 days (Season 11, 2007)
Brad Womack will forever live in Bachelor infamy for this one: The rugged Southerner rejected both of his final two ladies, DeAnna and Jenni, and ended the season alone — an unprecedented move that still hasn’t been duplicated. But Brad did return later for a second chance at love…
Jason and Melissa: 0 days (Season 13, 2009)
If you’re a member of Bachelor Nation, you’re familiar with this saga: Jason picked Melissa and proposed to her, but in a true shocker, he then dumped her on After the Final Rose in favor of runner-up Molly. And how did those two fare? Stay tuned…
Arie and Becca: 0 days (Season 22, 2018)
Race car driver Arie’s romance with his initial pick Becca didn’t even make it a single lap around the track. He proposed to her in the finale, but then ended their engagement via an agonizing, real-time dumping that millions watched on After the Final Rose. Like Jason, he also took up with his runner-up Lauren — and we have an update on them coming up, too.
Peter and Hannah Ann: 0 days (Season 24, 2020)
The Bachelor has had a rough go of it lately: For the second time in three years, a proposal went bust before the finale aired when airline pilot Peter split with his pick Hannah Ann. He tried to rekindle things with runner-up Madison, but that didn’t stick, either — and a later relationship with contestant Kelley fizzled after a few months, too.
Travis and Sarah: 8 days (Season 8, 2006)
ER doc (and future co-host of The Doctors) Travis Stork at least made it past the finale with his relationship to Sarah intact. But their love, sadly, didn’t survive long. They announced their split a whopping eight days after the finale aired.
Jesse and Jessica: 22 days (Season 5, 2004)
Former NFL quarterback (and current Bachelor host!) Jesse Palmer fumbled his relationship with Jessica less than a month after their season wrapped up. Maybe the “Jesse”/”Jessica” thing was too confusing?
Bob and Estella: 1 month (Season 4, 2003)
Goofy fan favorite Bob Guiney handed Estella a “promise ring” rather than an engagement ring in their finale, but that promise was broken pretty quickly. They went their separate ways after little more than a month together.
Lorenzo and Jennifer: 1 month (Season 9, 2006)
The Bachelor landed an Italian prince to star in its ninth season, but Lorenzo and his chosen lady Jennifer didn’t live happily ever after. A Bachelor rep confirmed they split before reaching the two-month mark. (Lorenzo swiftly moved on to date runner-up Sadie, but that didn’t last, either.)
Matt and Shayne: 2 months (Season 12, 2008)
Even Matt Grant’s British accent couldn’t guarantee a lasting relationship: He and Shayne Lamas — yes, the daughter of TV star Lorenzo Lamas — confirmed their split to People magazine just a couple of months post-finale.
Aaron and Helene: 2 months (Season 2, 2002)
In The Bachelor‘s sophomore season, Aaron got down on one knee and gave the franchise its first on-air proposal. His love story with Helene didn’t have a happy ending, though: The pair made it just two measly months before calling off their engagement.
Chris and Whitney: 2 months (Season 19, 2015)
Iowa farm boy Chris Soules just couldn’t get his relationship with Whitney to grow. He proposed to her at his family’s barn in the finale, but they tossed their relationship in the thresher less than three months later.
Brad and Emily: 3 months (Season 15, 2011)
Hey, Brad Womack is back! And he actually picked someone this time! Yes, Brad got a second chance at love and proposed to single mom Emily Maynard, but she confirmed their split just three months later in a teary interview with Chris Harrison. Emily went on to star in The Bachelorette, though, so she’s fine.
Jake and Vienna: 3 months (Season 14, 2010)
“Yikes” isn’t a big enough word to describe the crash-and-burn courtship of Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi, which went from sweet proposal to bitter breakup in three short months. The final nail in the coffin was a painfully awkward joint interview with Chris Harrison, where Vienna called Jake a “liar” in between sobs.
Andrew and Tessa: 4 months (Season 10, 2007)
Navy doctor Andrew Baldwin popped the question to Tessa in the finale, but they called off their engagement a month later and split up altogether a few months after that. (On a side note: We literally don’t remember these two being on the show at all?)
Nick and Vanessa: 5 months (Season 21, 2017)
Nick Viall is a true Bachelor lifer, with two (!) runner-up finishes on The Bachelorette and a stint on Bachelor in Paradise before becoming the Bachelor and proposing to Vanessa. Alas, he was swiftly back on the market: The pair broke up five months later.
Clayton and Susie: 6 months (Season 26, 2022)
Clayton’s season was a whole mess: Susie ditched him when she learned he was intimate with runners-up Rachel and Gabby in the fantasy suites. Then Clayton dumped the other two and begged Susie to take him back, only to have his marriage proposal rejected at the final rose ceremony. But wait! Susie took him back during the live finale, and the two of them enjoyed a solid half-year of bliss before announcing their split (how else?) on Instagram.
Andrew and Jen: 6 months (Season 3, 2003)
Tire heir and winemaker Andrew Firestone raised a glass in celebration with his chosen lady Jen Schefft after he proposed. But they never made it down the aisle, splitting up amicably half a year after their finale. Schefft handed out her own roses two years later as the star of The Bachelorette.
Ben and Courtney: 7 months (Season 16, 2012)
Ben’s relationship with skinny-dipping villain Courtney was a real roller coaster: They got engaged in the finale, broke up while the show was still airing, got back together and restarted their engagement and then finally split for good… all in less than a year. Courtney later wrote a tell-all book — titled, appropriately, I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends.
Juan Pablo and Nikki: 7 months (Season 18, 2014)
The infamous Juan Pablo is better remembered for Clare’s scorching reaction to her final-two dumping (“I would never want my children having a father like you”), but things didn’t go much better with him and his “winner” Nikki. They went on VH1’s Couples Therapy for some televised counseling before ultimately calling it quits.
Alex and Amanda: 10 months (Season 1, 2002)
The very first Bachelor couple actually stayed together longer than most: Alex Michel didn’t propose to Amanda, but the two dated for nearly a year… before she reportedly found out that he slept with runner-up Trista and broke things off. (Trista, of course, became the first ever Bachelorette and found the man of her dreams in Ryan — married 21 years and still going strong!)
Joey and Kelsey: 10 months, and counting! (Season 28, 2024)
Yes, this adorable pair who got engaged last season on The Bachelor are still together, with Joey choosing Kelsey over Daisy in the season finale. (Plus, Joey went on to compete in — and win! — the most recent season of Dancing With the Stars.) There were rumors of trouble in paradise when Kelsey was spotted not wearing her engagement ring, but she reassured fans that she and Joey are still going strong and she was merely getting the ring fixed, adding that it’s “all good in the hood over here.” Whew!
Ben and Lauren: 1 year, 2 months (Season 20, 2016)
Now we’re getting into some substantial relationships, past the one-year mark. Ben chose Lauren over future Bachelorette star JoJo and proposed to her, and the two even starred in their own Freeform reality show, Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? The question mark was there for a reason, though: They eventually went their separate ways.
Colton and Cassie: 1 year, 2 months (Season 23, 2019)
What started with a fence-jumping ended with (oof) a restraining order. Colton nearly quit the show when Cassie dumped him and left the show, but he convinced her to come back and handed her his final rose. They stuck it out for more than a year together, but had a particularly ugly breakup, with Cassie filing a restraining order against Colton and accusing him of sending her threatening texts and putting a tracking device on her car. But that’s not all: In 2021, Colton came out as gay (!), later starring in a Netflix docuseries about his newly out life and marrying boyfriend Jordan C. Brown.
Zach and Kaity: 1 year, 10 months, and counting! (Season 27, 2023)
Zach may have been a little too honest during his stint as the Bachelor: He confessed to Kaity that he slept with Gabi during fantasy suites, which understandably threw her for a loop. Still, he chose Kaity over Gabi when handing out his final rose, and she accepted his proposal in the season finale. A year later, they moved in together and are still engaged, with a wedding set for October 2025. Fingers crossed!
Charlie and Sarah: 2 years, 4 months (Season 7, 2005)
Sometime actor Charlie O’Connell — brother of full-time actor Jerry O’Connell — didn’t propose when he picked Sarah, but they stayed together for two years before breaking up, and then reunited for another two years before a final split. In the realm of Bachelor relationships, they’re practically Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
Matt and Rachael: 3 years, 10 months (Season 25, 2021)
Real-world issues intruded on this pair’s love story: Matt James was the franchise’s first Black Bachelor ever, and he handed his final rose to Rachael — but off-screen, a firestorm of controversy erupted when photos of Rachael at an antebellum party resurfaced. With the controversy raging, Matt revealed that he and Rachael had broken up on After the Final Rose, saying that she had a lot of work to do before they could be together. But she must’ve done that work (and quickly!), because Matt and Rachael were spotted together a month later and went on to date for another four years. He announced their split, though, in January 2025 on Instagram.
Byron and Mary: 5 years (Season 6, 2004)
Pro fisherman Byron thought he reeled in a keeper when he proposed to Mary in the finale. The good news: The two stayed together for more than five years, a lifetime by Bachelor standards. The bad news: Mary was arrested and charged with assaulting Byron in 2007. So maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t last?
Arie and Lauren: 6 years, and counting! (Season 22, 2018)
So remember how Arie dumped Becca and ran off with his runner-up Lauren? Well, the gamble paid off: He proposed on After the Final Rose (not wasting any time!), the two got married in 2019, and they had a daughter later that year and then welcomed twins in 2021.
Sean and Catherine: 11 years, and counting! (Season 17, 2013)
Here it is, folks: the one and only Bachelor couple that began with a final rose and ended with a walk down the aisle. Sean popped the question in the finale, he and Catherine got married a year later — on TV, naturally — and they are still together, with three kids. (OK, so they did later appear on a celebrity season of Marriage Boot Camp. But nobody’s perfect.)
Jason and Molly: 15 years, and counting! (Season 13, 2009)
And the longest-running relationship in Bachelor history actually started with a breakup. Jason initially ditched Molly in favor of Melissa, but changed his mind on After the Final Rose and went back to Molly… and it worked out! The two are still together, a decade and a half later, with a televised wedding in 2010 and a daughter in 2013. It might not be a typical fairy tale, but by Bachelor standards, it’s a shining success story.
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