And then there was one.
But was he The One?
On the season finale of The Bachelorette, Tayshia Adams had to choose not from two suitors, both of whom had won over her heart, but three… thanks to the stunning return of Ben to the show on Monday night.
“I’m in love with you. I have been in love with you,” he told a teary-eyed Tayshia on the penultimate episode of Season 16.
The installment ended with a cliffhanger; with Adams needing time to think of how she should respond to Ben’s candid message.
But it didn’t really take long for her to make up her mind on the finale.
“I know what my heart wants, and it’s not Ben,” Tayshia told the camera, following a serious heart-to-heart with her father and one last date with Zac.
“I wish my heart was with him, but it’s just not. … I know what I need to do. I don’t like hurting people,” she added.
Hurt him she had to do, however, as Adams visited Ben in his sutie and shattered his heart into a billion pieces.
“Through this whole week, all I’ve been thinking about is the entire journey here,” she began.
“And that starts with us, really. I remember seeing you out of the group of guys, and you were someone I wanted to continue to get to know.
‘I don’t think I’ve told you this, but you kind of set the bar for people, because you were being vulnerable with me, and I saw that, and I started falling for that guy more and more.
“And this week, it’s a really heavy week, and I care about you so much. I just feel like my heart is with somebody else.”
Ben, who some believe is angling to be the next Bachelor, took the dumping like a champ.
“I’m in love with you, that doesn’t change. I saw it going differently, but when you love somebody, you want them to be happy,” he replied.
“I’m happy for you. I’m dead serious,” he added, giving her one last hug. “It’s alright.”
Okay. So then we were down to Ivan and Zac.
In somewhat of a surprise, Tayshia rejected the latter… over religious differences.
“This past week, we’ve talked about some important subjects… There are some things that kind of posed concern,” she said on camera.
“I wish I could say that there were a lot of red flags prior to this week. And there haven’t been,” Tayshia continued.
“It’s just like, at the end of the day, religion’s part of my morals and my beliefs.”
Interesting, right?
No other specifics were offered, but Ivan didn’t really argue.
“I definitely get it,” he responded.
“We found out a lot of stuff about each other and I was definitely struggling with bringing it up, because all the girls I have dated in the past, it never ended because of religion or anything.
‘But I know that’s something that’s important to you and I do apologize for that and I wish I did bring it up a little sooner. That is the roadblock for the two of us.”
Ivan and Tayshia said their farewells, and he confessed to the cameras that he had suspected their differing beliefs could come between them.
“I knew in the back of my mind — I was like, this thing could really just be the bomb that just explodes everything here,” he said. “And it just happened.”
It’s a shame, but was it for the best?
It sure seemed that way… after Zac met Tayshia’s family; everyone got along well; and Adams had many of her worries addressed.
“I love Zac Clark,” she gushed to the cameras. “There’s so much sincerity behind everything that Zac says.”
Cut to Proposal Day!
Zac met with jeweler Neil Lane and picked out an emerald cut engagement ring. Then, he arrived to do his thing, getting down on one knee in the process.
“From our first kiss to riding the Ferris wheel to meeting each other’s families, nothing has ever felt so right my entire life,” he told Tayshia.
“You’ve helped me experience the love that I didn’t know existed and you’ve made me smile more than anyone has ever made me smile. I love you, Tayshia.”
Tayshia returned the sentiment. And then some.
“There was one point in my life where I thought I would never get married because of all of the pain and the heartbreak that I’ve been through,” she said.
“I hit absolute rock bottom and I know that I told you that I love you but, sorry, it’s more than that.
“It’s this wild, wild love that I have tried to come up with so many reasons to not believe, and you have truly just made me believe that there doesn’t need to be flaws and that I deserve a love with a man that won’t run away.”
Continued The Bachelorette:
“I’m truly looking at my heart and yes, it is real.
“And I want to make more traditions and jump into fountains all over the world with you. I’m ready to hail a taxi. And I’m ready to start a life with you.
“But also, I love you, Zac Clark, and I’ll do absolutely anything to keep that huge smile on your face, because you do everything to keep a huge smile on mine.”
After telling Tayshia, “I’m going to choose you forever,” Zac presented the ring box and asked: “Marry me?
Tayshia accepted the proposal, kissed Zac and told him, “You’re mine,” prior to dancing around with her fiance and exclaiming “Oh my God, we did it!”
As for what’s next for the couple?
Simple, Zac joked. Or maybe didn’t really joke…
They would “make beautiful babies and all that stuff.”