22 ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette’ Couples Who Are Still Together
The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and their spin-offs have resulted in many hookups, relationships, and even engagements over the years—but most of them don’t last very long once the cameras stop rolling. It seems like, after leaving the bubble of the Bachelor Mansion (or that Paradise resort) behind and reentering the real world, a majority of the franchise’s couples can’t seem to keep the magic alive. Huh!
But while most of romances wilted like the show’s roses over time, there have been a few success stories to come out of the Bachelor franchise. Whether they hit it off from the very beginning or found each other later on, these are the pairs who have managed to turn their reality TV love into…reality.
1. Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter
ABC’s first-ever Bachelorette, Trista Rehn, got engaged to firefighter Ryan Sutter at the end of her season—Sutter proposed to her, although the original plan for the show was to have Rehn on bended knee. The two were married in a televised ceremony in December 2003 and close to 15 years later, are considered the franchise’s OG success story. They currently live in Colorado and have two children, Max and Blakesley…who will never see their season of The Bachelorette if they can help it.
So what makes their relationship work? “You have to put in the time and effort and energy that you do into everything else in your life. And I feel like [Ryan and I] do that,” Trista told the Today show in 2015. “We’ve had our bumps in the road, just like anyone else, but it’s really about staying focused on each other and dedicating time to each other.”
2. Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum
At the end of season 7 of The Bachelorette, Ashley Hebert chose love with J.P. Rosenbaum, leaving runner-up Ben Flajnik to continue his search for a soul mate on The Bachelor (spoiler: That didn’t work out for him either!). Hebert and Rosenbaum’s wedding—which was officiated by Chris Harrison, obviously—aired as a TV special in December 2012.
The couple welcomed their first baby, Fordham, in 2014 and their second child, Essex, in 2016. “I feel this sense of completeness,” Hebert told People magazine in 2017. “We’re very happy with our cute little family.”
In 2018, they renewed their vows. Cue the collective awwwwww.
3. Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried
Chris Siegfried won over Desiree Hartsock’s heart at the end of The Bachelorette’s ninth season. At the time, many fans questioned the legitimacy of their romance, especially considering Hartsock had accepted Siegfried’s proposal just weeks after expressing devastation over the early departure of Brooks Forester (the season’s original frontrunner famously quit the show after basically telling Hartsock he just wasn’t that into her).
Regardless of viewers’ doubts, Hartsock and Siegfried went on to tie the knot in January 2015 and recently welcomed their second son, Zander Cruz, in 2019.
4. Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici
Some fans were surprised when “born-again virgin” Sean Lowe picked Catherine Giudici over Lindsay Yenter on the season 17 finale of The Bachelor. Rumors that Lowe had asked for Yenter’s hand in marriage had circulated prior to the episode’s airing, and everyone—including Yenter herself—seemed certain that would be the case.
But while Lowe’s proposal to Giudici came as a shock initially, the two have proven their love is built to last. After tying the knot in the franchise’s first-ever live TV wedding in 2014, the couple happily built their lives together in Dallas, Texas and have since welcomed two sons, Samuel and Isaiah. Catherine recently gave birth to their third child.
Giuidici reflected on her marriage to Lowe in early 2018, telling E! News, “I love having my best friend to wake up to, spend the day with, and kiss good night. I can count on Sean to make me feel loved every day and also give me sound advice when I need it. He’s honestly the best thing that has happened to me.”
5. JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers
Another couple keeping the #BachelorNation love alive: JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers. The two fell for each other during season 12 of The Bachelorette–amid rumors that they had actually met before the show, oops oops. (Fletcher later clarified that they had never spoken prior to the start of the filming, although she had heard Rodgers’ name mentioned in connection to casting.)
Sparks flew once they met in person, and the rest is Bachelorette history. The couple remain engaged, although they have yet to choose a wedding date. “We’re really happy and enjoying our engagement and our life has been—and continues to get—so much busier and crazy,” Fletcher told Us Weekly. “And there’s just gonna be that moment where we look at each other and we’re like, ‘Okay…let’s do this, it’s time.’”
At his brother’s wedding (no, not that brother) in April 2019, Jordan Instagrammed a photo of the couples with a caption saying that he and JoJo are “up next.”
6. Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert
When you think of Bachelor in Paradise, the franchise’s spring break–style spin-off, ‘successful matchmaking’ might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But it has still resulted in a couple of successful couples! After meeting on and getting engaged during season 2 of the show, Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert made it official in—yup, you guessed it—yet another televised wedding special for ABC.
Despite some drama (as caught on camera for Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars in 2016), the two have since settled in Tolbert’s hometown of Kansas City with daughter Emerson Avery, who was born in 2017.
Baby #2 arrived in late July 2019. A boy, as the couple discovered during a skydiving (!!!) gender reveal stunt planned by BIP alum Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon.
And on May 28, 2020, Jade announced she and Tanner are expecting another kiddo!
7. Carly Waddell and Evan Bass
It wasn’t exactly love at first sight for Carly Waddell and Evan Bass, who first met on the third season of Bachelor in Paradise. But as fans know all too well, reality TV has a way of working its ”magic,” and before you knew it, the two were head over heels for each other.
By the end of that Paradise season, three men proposed to their showmances. But while the other two engaged pairs, Josh Murray and Amanda Stanton and Grant Kemp and Lace Morris, quickly called it quits, Bass and Waddell successfully made it down the aisle in 2017, with fellow Paradise alum Jade Roper serving as a bridesmaid.
Having settled in Nashville, the couple is now focusing on their growing family. In addition to the three sons Bass already has from a previous relationship, Waddell gave birth to daughter Isabella, nicknamed Bella, in 2018.
On June 25, 2019, Carly and Evan announced that their second baby together (born in November 2019!) will be their last, completing the happy family.
Bonus: Aaron Bass and Juelia Kinney
Oh, and because you know it’s all about that Bass (family), Evan’s brother, Aaron, also found love within the Bachelor community—he is currently engaged to Bachelor/Bachelor in Paradise alum Juelia Kinney. As Kinney revealed on social media, the two met in Mexico in 2017 and dated long-distance for some time before he popped the question. So far, it’s been a long engagement.
“He is the best man I could ask for and my best friend…not to mention he makes me laugh till my stomach hurts every morning and every day. I never would have expected we would have met like we did but I am so freaking grateful that we did,” she wrote on Instagram.
8. Raven Gates and Adam Gottschalk
Season 4 of Bachelor in Paradise brought Raven Gates and Adam Gottschalk together, and it seems the chemistry fans witnessed between the pair on the show hasn’t faded since. The two didn’t get engaged in the 2017 finale—that’s probably a good thing in terms of their taking the relationship seriously—and explained to Glamour that the few weeks of filming they had to get to know each other weren’t enough time to “hammer out those conversations that need to be had before you get engaged.”
Still, they did continue to work at their relationship after the cameras stopped rolling. And after dating long-distance for some time, Gates recently moved to Dallas to be with Gottschalk—“I’m really obsessed with Adam. I’m just really happy to be with him,” Gates said during an appearance on The Morning Toast.
And in May 2019, they got engaged!
9. Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo
Season 13 of The Bachelorette wrapped with Rachel Lindsay choosing Bryan Abasolo over forever fan fave Peter Krause, and it seems she couldn’t be happier with her decision. The couple is still together and living in Dallas, Texas.
In 2018, Lindsay told ET the two are aiming for a spring 2019 wedding. “Yes, ideally, I wanted a winter wedding,” she said. “I wanted it in December, but as it’s getting closer and plans haven’t been put in place, it’s looking more next year, the spring, because I want to have kids. I really want to start next year. I want more stability. We’ve been traveling so much and I want to create this family unit and a home for us.”
Those nuptials finally came in August. No, they weren’t televised.
10. Holly Durst and Blake Julian
Holly Durst had two big reasons to celebrate at the end of the season 2 of Bachelor Pad—the Bachelor spin-off that came before Paradise. Not only did she and partner Michael Stagliano take home the $250,000 prize in the 2011 finale, but she also revealed her engagement to costar Blake Julian. Unfortunately, the announcement was pretty awkward, as viewers had to watch Stagliano, Durst’s ex, learn of the news on camera—a move that Durst later called “wrong.”
Despite the onscreen drama, the couple made it down the aisle in 2012 and are still going strong. They now reside together in South Carolina, and adopted a baby girl in October 2019.
Bonus: Stephen Stagliano and Deanna Pappas
Oh, and Stagliano’s twin brother Stephen (while not a Bachelorette contestant himself) ended up marrying and having two kids with Deanna Pappas, of The Bachelor season 11 and The Bachelorette season 4. On the latter show, she turned down Jason Mesnick for snowboarder Jesse Csincsak, and speaking of those bros…
11. Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney
After being dumped by Pappas in her season’s finale, Mesnick landed the leading man spot for season 13 of The Bachelor, a season that was filled with controversy—lucky 13, am I right!? Specifically, there was mad fallout from Mesnick’s finale. After initially picking Melissa Rycroft as the recipient of his final rose, Mesnick went on After the Final Rose and revealed that he had broken up with Rycroft to date runner-up Molly Malaney instead. Oof.
And although that might not seem like the most auspicious set of circumstances on which to start (or develop) a forever love, their relationship has flourished. The two tied the knot in a 2010 televised ceremony, and Malaney gave birth to their daughter, Riley, in 2013.
12. Jesse Csincsak and Ann Lueders
Yes, Csincsak was the recipient of Pappas’ final rose in the fourth season of The Bachelorette, but after a four-month relationship, they called it quits. He then met Ann Lueders, the first woman to get eliminated from Jason Mesnick’s season of The Bachelor during, of all things, a Bachelor/Bachelorette reunion cruise, and got hitched in Las Vegas in 2010.
Among the people present on their wedding day were Jason and Molly Mesnick, whose wedding the couple also attended. At the time, Lueders was already four months pregnant with their first child, Noah Theodore. Now, they live in Arizona, and have two more kids: Carter James and Charlotte Jean.
13. Peyton Wright and Chris Lambton
Peyton Wright and Chris Lambton are another couple born out of failed attempts at finding love in their respective seasons of The Bachelor/ Bachelorette. Wright was on Andy Baldwin’s season of the show (where she was turned down after a two-on-one date, oof). Meanwhile, landscaper Lambton was among the two finalists vying for Ali Fedotowsky’s hand in 2010 but fell short at the final hurdle.
The two met at “another Bachelor function,” and hit it off. They got married in 2012, settled down in Massachusetts, and have since starred in a reality TV show for HGTV called Going Yard, which focused on landscaping. Their daughter Lyla James, 1, became a big sister in December 2017.
14. Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon
Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon first crossed paths on season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise, but it took more than two years for them to officially become a couple IRL. The two casually dated, broke up, and even saw other people before finally announcing their relationship ~for real~ in May.
The couple shared the ups and downs of their journey in an episode of Iaconetti’s YouTube show The Story of Us and got engaged only a month later during production for season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise.
You can follow Ashley’s entire wedding planning journey right here on Cosmo.
15. Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham
One of the most controversial moments in Bachelor history came with the two-part finale of Arie’s Bachelor season. He proposed to Becca Kufrin, took it back, and chose runner-up Lauren in just two nights.
On After the Final Rose, Arie popped the question live. Lauren obvi accepted.
“I was just like, ‘We need to do it, you need to take the risk if this means a lot to you and you need to follow your heart,’” Lauren told People.
After tying the knot in Hawaii back in January 2019, the couple welcomed their daughter Alessi on May 29.
16. Becca Kufrin and Garrett Yrigoyen
Thankfully, Becca got her own happy ending…which she announced even before the start of her Bachelorette season, although she kept winner, Garrett, under wraps.
Making the choice between Garrett and Blake Horstmann, ultimately, she chose Garrett. “I’m going for the one that I can’t see myself without. This love feels like it just fits my soul, it just fits my heart,” she said during the finale. “I’m so happy that I pushed through to find what I’ve always wanted. I really feel like I’ve not only found my partner in this, but I’ve also found myself.”
Garrett proposed right then and there during the big episode. The couple lives together just south of San Diego, California.
17. Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour
Bachelor in Paradise is long gone but Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour’s relationship is still going strong, which is way, way more than you can say about most other couples who left Paradise together. Hannah was even spotted shopping for wedding dresses in November 2019. Looks like they really did find paradise.
18. Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick
These two sure shook up Bachelor Nation when they first got together after Kaitlyn called off her engagement with Shawn Booth. Now, they’ve been going strong for nearly two years.
19. Kevin Wendt and Astrid Loch
Another successful Bachelor in Paradise couple! Who would’ve thought? After meeting on the show, Kevin popped the question to Astrid in Toronto this past August.
20. Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes
These two are living the van life post–Bachelor in Paradise, but don’t expect them to get engaged anytime soon.
“That’s never going to happen,” Dean recently told Us Weekly. “She does joke around about us getting married all the time, and I always say, ‘Sorry, it’s not going to happen.’ I don’t know, I’m super unconventional and she obviously is a little more conventional. We joke around about it. Just try to keep expectations to a minimum, you know? Like I said on the show, underpromise, overdeliver.”
Whatever works for them! They’re still super cute.
21. Ty Brown and Elizabeth Kitt
Okay, these two technically didn’t share screen time, but they found love thanks to the show regardless! Like Chris, Ty was on Ali Fedotowsky’s season of the Bachelorette, while Elizabeth was on season 14 of the Bachelor. The two met in L.A. in 2013 and got married the following year. In April 2018, Us Weekly reported that the two welcomed their first child, a daughter Blakely, into the world.
22. Drew Kenney and Amy Long
Our final offscreen couple—but still tried-and-true Bach Nation couple—is Drew and Amy. While Drew is tad more well-known (he was actually the runner-up on Desiree Hartsock’s season of the Bachelorette), his girlfriend Amy is less so. She was only on a few episodes of Juan Pablo Galavis’ season before getting sent home. While they’re not married (yet?), according to Insider, and Drew’s Insta, the two are still going strong.
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