The Bachelorette Finale Recap: And the winner is…

Tonight is the night! After 12 long weeks of watching Kaitlyn Bristowe date 26 men, it’s all down to Nick and Shawn. Will she pick Shawn? I hope. Will she pick Nick? I hope not. Or will she pick neither and stay single? I’m thinking that’s a strong possibility. Scroll to the end of this post to see who she picks, if you like spoilers like I do.

First up for this episode we see Kaitlyn filling her family in about what two final contestants are left in the game. Her family is totally judging Nick for his previous season, and her mom totally gets that her attraction to Nick is probably mostly physical. Kaitlyn swears there’s more, but let’s be honest, there isn’t.

Nick meets her family first, and he’s totally nervous that her family knows they’ve slept together. Mom starts out with the best question “why are you here?” He spews some b.s. line that we’ve heard before, and her family definitely seems skeptical as to his true intentions, just like the rest of America. I haven’t personally watched Nick’s season, but I’ve heard he was pretty bad. Nick just kept doing that creepy “head down, eyes looking up glare” while talking. Then he starts crying about how much he loves her when talking to her mother, smooth move, Nick. Crying in front of the mom who thinks you’re arrogant and a douche bag… that’ll turn her real quick. Nick dwells on the fact that Kaitlyn is “incredibly attractive” when talking to all of her parents, but he keeps saying he loves her and wants to ask her to marry him. Mind you, a few weeks ago he was saying something along the lines of “a lot needs to happen for this to turn into a proposal” but they give him their blessing.

Then the family meets Shawn, and of course Kaitlyn kind of lets them know he can be a little possessive and insecure (a few of his cons) before they meet him. I’m obsessed with Kaitlyn’s dress for this family meeting btw. Shawn’s tells the family that he started watching Kaitlyn’s season on The Bachelor when his sisters said he would love her and then when she got sent home, he snapped a picture of her leaving with a heart around her and said “don’t worry I’m coming for you…” SWOON! Mom grills him just as badly as she grilled Nick and he admits that he had a hard time with the whole thing because he truly loves her, but there won’t be any trust issues after this because they’ve “been through so much already.” Meh. I don’t know about that, the real world is a little different than prancing around the world to go on dates, but we’ll see. Her sister Hayley admits that she’s #TeamShawn and even though she saw a connection with her and Nick, she admits it seems more physical and that her relationship with Shawn seems more real and deep. Shawn also asks her parents for their blessing, and of course they give it to him.

Decisions…decisions…

Kaitlyn gets one last day with each guy. Her and Nick spend some time out on a sailboat out in the deep blue sea. Nick’s all “Kaitlyn and I have this connection and it never seems to fade away.” Dude, you’ve had a few dates over less than a few months. I must admit though, even though I don’t believe Nick’s feelings, I do think that Kaitlyn really does care for Nick, for whatever reason. After some chitchat at dinner/drinks, Nick tells her he has a gift for her in his bedroom. It’s a double picture frame with a picture of their first one on one date and then a little poem of how he felt at that moment on their date. It was nice, and obviously made her cry. Nick is pretty confident that she will have his ring on her finger soon.

Her date with Shawn takes place in a vineyard. What is a Bachelorette date without booze, keeps the entertainment open and honest. They start with a super awkward time sitting on a bench with some weird pauses, but she brings it up, and Shawn can’t help but bring up his insecurities with the other guy and how they just had a date the day before and now she’s acting weird. Yeah, I’d be nervous too if I was him. Later that night they get back on track. This whole date seems like she’s still wrapped up on Nick, but that could just be some clever editing on the backend. She asks him if he’s going to be able to watch the show when it airs, a little weird, like, if he doesn’t want to watch it then he doesn’t have to. But he says he will, just not all of it (i.e. her sleeping with Nick, more than once). He is so cute about obviously loving her and being excited to have a future with her and have a family together, I actually just got a little teary-eyed listening to him. His gift to Kaitlyn was a big memory jar that had pieces from their dates, like pictures and notes and little items from the dates, way better than that picture frame with a poem. Shawn is also very confident about his proposal, but he’s been confident since day one anyways.

It’s e-day (engagement day)! The Neil Lane comes knocks on Shawn’s door to show him some diamond rings, all of which are gorgeous, of course. Then he visited Nick, who apparently never got to meet Neil last season, but he lucked out this time.

Caitlin’s Mac Duggal dress for her proposal is S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G! I just want to fast forward to see who she picks already!

Nick steps out of the first limo at the house where it all began (well, where it started for Shawn, anyway). He spills his heart and starts to pull out the ring, and she stops his hands and says “wait”.

Ohhhhh sh*t. She tries to explain herself and said it came down to the fact that her heart is with someone else, he cuts her off with a short “okay” and that he doesn’t want to hear it. I can’t tell if he’s being a douche or if he truly is hurt, but he is being kind of mean and telling her that her feelings weren’t real and that she doesn’t love him. Whatever, byeeeee Nick!

Next limo up, we have Shawn, the first impression rose, the one who stepped out of the limo on night one and went straight to Kaitlyn and said “I am here for you.” He walks up to Kaitlyn and gives the sweetest speech about them and again, I get teary-eyed…what is wrong with me?! He gets down on one knee and presents her with a beautiful ring, and then she presents him with the final rose!!! YESSSS!!!

I tuned in for the after show, and yes, they are still together… despite what the media has led us to believe!

Did you tune in tonight? What do you think about her decision to accept Shawn’s proposal? Let me know in the comments below!

 

xoxo,

Kirsten