The "Bachelor" Franchise Just Aired Its First-Ever Same-Sex Engagement
Spoilers ahead, Bachelor Nation, so beware.
Last night's season finale of Bachelor in Paradise made reality TV history when contestants Demi Burnett and Kristian Haggerty became one of three couples in the sixth season to get engaged. Both women are the first same-sex couple across some 44 combined seasons of BIP, The Bachelor, and The Bachelorette to reach the finale milestone, The Hollywood Reporter notes.
Haggerty (L) and Burnett (R).
"There were a lot of things that came between us, mostly myself and my own struggles,” Burnett, who proposed to Haggerty, said once she'd gotten down on one knee in a scene from the Bachelor spinoff. “Like you said, I came here to find myself. But I found myself in you."
Burnett, who originally appeared on Colton Underwood's season of The Bachelor, came out as bisexual after her casting on this season of BIP was announced. Fans had long speculated that she was planning to come out, but Burnett, ever the feisty "queer queen," wanted to do it on her own terms:
The pair had a rocky journey to their engagement. Burnett originally pursued a male BIP contestant earlier in this season but later confessed her lingering feelings for Haggerty, whom she'd dated before the show, as Time magazine notes.
ABC ended up flying Haggerty out to meet her on set in an episode that aired on August 20—and the rest is history.
At a cast reunion taped after the finale episode was filmed, Burnett and Haggerty confirmed to THR that they are still happily engaged.
Haggerty even got down on one knee to offer Burnett her own proposal. "I know that last day in Paradise was the best day of my life," she told her fiancée, "and I wouldn't want to do this life with anyone but you."
Cue the waterworks!
Watch the full proposal scene from BIP below.