Who did North Jersey native Jenn Tran pick in 'The Bachelorette' finale?
Season 21 of "The Bachelorette" came to a dramatic end on Tuesday night, shocking Bachelor Nation and leaving Jenn Tran, bachelorette and North Jersey native, heartbroken.
Going into the three-hour finale, Tran was facing a choice between two men, Devin Strader and Marcus Shoberg.
Viewers watched as Strader and Shoberg met Tran's family and as Strader and Tran went on their "last chance" date in Hawaii.
Then, in a surprising twist, Shoberg, who was unsure if he was able to commit to Tran and struggled to tell her that he loved her, was sent home about halfway through the finale, finally telling Tran that he loved her just before she broke up with him.
As the finale continued, viewers watched Strader pick out a ring, seemingly eager and excited to propose to Tran.
"Looking at the ring makes these feelings all the more real for me," said Strader. "I am sweating a little more than normal, but I know Jenn is everything I've been looking for in a relationship and in a partner."
Who did Jenn pick on 'The Bachelorette?'
The camera's then cut to Tran and host Jesse Palmer discussing Tran's feelings about a proposal.
"I really need to follow my heart today," said Tran, sharing that closing the door with Shoberg was a big step for her. "I've always in the past have let the guys dictate the terms of the relationship and dictate my emotions, my feelings, and my choices and I am done doing that."
She then tells Palmer that she is not going to let Strader propose to her, but that she is going to propose to him saying, "I want to make a big gesture so that he can really know where my love is. I want him to know that I am going to fight for him every day and that I am going to choose him every day."
In a typical "Bachelorette" finale, this would be the moment where viewers get to see a romantic proposal and then meet the happy couple live. However, instead of cutting to the proposal, the camera's turned to Palmer in the live studio, sharing that the audience will not see the proposal until Tran has the chance to speak about what has gone on since that day.
"We had left Hawaii engaged, very happy, it was the happiest day of my life," said Tran, fighting through tears. "I thought I had found the person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. And then, as soon as we left Hawaii, things were just different."
Tran reveals that about a month prior to the finale, two months after the engagement, Strader called her and broke off the engagement, saying that he didn't love her anymore, didn't feel the same way, and felt like something was off "since the second he proposed."
Tran shared that she tried to work on, and fight for the relationship but that Strader did not feel the same way.
"When he said he felt pressured to get engaged and that he didn't want it, I almost believed him for a second and I tried to empathize, and then watching it all back it's like, nobody forced him to say the things that he did," said Tran.
Strader then joined Tran and Palmer on stage, marking the first time that they had seen each other in over a month. Palmer opened the floor for them to have a conversation.
Tran kicked off the conversation by saying, "This conversation right now between the two of us is not what I had wanted and is not something that is going to be meaningful to me, because we had talked about this, and we had said that our relationship is our relationship ... and we both wanted a conversation off camera."
Tran expressed that while she can understand him changing his mind about how he feels about her, she can't understand the way that he has acted since the engagement, revealing that not only did he end the engagement over a phone call but that when she woke up the next day, Strader had followed Tran's former "Bachelor" co-star Maria Georgas on Instagram, drawing an audible reaction from the audience.
Tran also revealed that soon after, Strader was in New York clubbing with fellow contestant Jeremy Simon who was sent home after hometown dates.
"When we left the show, I had a lot of doubts, and regretfully and sadly I suppressed those feelings and I did come clean to you about that," said Strader. "It's hard to sit here and deny what you're accusing me of. It's hard to sit here and put it into words. I told you way back when that I was trying to scour my brain to find some external reason as to why this was happening to me," insisting that he was honest with her throughout the whole relationship but also that he was "late" in letting her know how he was really feeling.
The pair went back and forth until Palmer interrupted, applauding Tran for showing Bachelor Nation "what a strong and powerful woman is."
"You weren't afraid to speak your mind. You also weren't afraid to go after what it is you want, and you did that all throughout this entire journey, including making history, the beautiful proposal, the likes of which we have never seen and Jenn, nobody can ever take that away from you," said Palmer, asking if she was ready to watch the proposal back to which Tran responded, "Do I have a choice?"
A 'cruel' finale
Since the finale aired, ABC has been slammed by viewers on social media who are calling the finale cruel.
"Why would you make her watch this proposal back. 'Do I have a choice?' That is so insidious of you guys just for views," commented one Instagram user on "The Bachelorette" Instagram page.
Another Instagram user commented, "The audacity to force her to watch her proposal next to Devin with a camera on her as she cries ... classless and disturbing that you handled this woman's heart with such little care."
After a tough ending, Bachelor Nation seems to be on Tran's side, hoping to see her flourish in her future endeavors, one of which has already been announced.
How to watch Jenn on 'Dancing with the Stars'
For her next endeavor, Tran will be taking on "Dancing with the Stars," as announced on "Good Morning America" Wednesday morning where she said, "Heartbreak is the best motivator for success, so I am out for blood, I am ready."
She will be dancing with pro partner Sasha Farber.
Fellow Bachelor Nation star Joey Graziadei will also be making his "Dancing with the Stars" debut with pro partner Jenna Johnson.
You can watch them take the ballroom floor when the new season premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 17 on ABC and Disney+. The show can also be streamed on Hulu.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: 'Bachelorette' Season 21 finale recap: Did Jenn Tran find love?