Warning: Spoilers ahead from "The Bachelorette" Season 21 finale, which aired Sept. 3, 2024.
During and after the absolute devastation that was "The Bachelorette" season finale, people stormed social media to defend Jenn Tran, call out ABC and clock Devin Strader.
Essentially, Tran and Strader had a beautiful proposal in Hawaii, which Tran thought was the happiest day of her life. Tran, a University of Wisconsin-Madison alum, made "Bachelorette" history by being the one to pop the question to Strader. Then, he got down on one knee and proposed to her right back.
But before airing that taped proposal from months prior, Tran joined host Jesse Palmer live on stage in front of a studio audience to share the shocking and devastating events that had followed.
Tran — who was fighting to talk through tears — revealed Strader ended their engagement in a 15-minute phone call sometime in August as the season was airing. This came after he was pulling away, she said, and treating her secondary to everything else in his life.
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When Strader joined Tran on stage, she confronted him about keeping her in the dark about his doubts for months; following Maria Georgas on Instagram soon after he ended the engagement; clubbing with Jeremy Simon not long after the split; and posting about the show on social media as if he didn't feel anything.
In an attempt to happily segue into the footage of Tran's and Strader's mutual proposal, Palmer praised Tran for "(showing) all of us what a strong, powerful woman is."
When Palmer asked Tran, who was sobbing, whether it was time to show Bachelor Nation her engagement, she replied, "Do I have a choice?"
"Cruel and unnecessary" are the words "Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" alum Ben Higgins used on X to describe making Tran relive that moment live in studio. And, by what people were saying on social, he was far from the only person who felt that way.
Here's a sampling of what X users were saying about the finale, how it was handled and Strader:
People outraged over 'The Bachelorette' Jenn Tran having to relive failed engagement on live TV with ex-fiance
After watching "The Bachelor" franchise for years, X user @aliyalangley said "a lot of s----- things" had gone down. "But the decision to show a proposal that ends in heartbreak to Jenn in front of her ex & in a live studio audience is one of the cruelest things they’ve ever done." And, having the camera on her so everyone could see her crying during the proposal added "another layer of cruelty," a follow-up tweet said.
"They could’ve had an empowering story of the first Asian bachelorette and yet they give her a terrible edit all season, terrible men, and set out to embarrass her on the finale," tweeted @greysbachelors. "She deserves so much better than this."
X user @emilybernay typed out an entire paragraph about the "sinister spectacle," saying it felt like she was watching "Black Mirror" or "The Truman Show." That post has racked up more than 4,300 likes.
@brandybeephd — a media and Black cultural studies scholar and film and TV professor — took to X to say production needs to be dealt with for the treatment of Tran. "Why would Jesse say all these encouraging things and then they go and re-traumatize her?! FOUL."
TheBachBabes account, which has 20,700 followers, asked folks to retweet if they thought the show needs new producers after "this DUMPSTER FIRE of a night. Maybe some with a little…..empathy?"
@ChrisLaw — whose bio identifies him as a TV and radio producer — had a tweet dripping with perfect sarcasm over the situation:
"No clue what’s going on… but I just flipped the channel & saw Jesse Palmer tell girl whose engagement just ended how amazing her proposal was though… then asks her to watch it as she bawls “and nobody can ever take that away from you” WTF. This shows crazy."
X users nail Devin Strader for giving 'The Bachelorette' Jenn Tran emotional whiplash
"Ohhh Devin just became Bach nation enemy no.1," @shannel_lynn posted to X, along with a GIF of Brittany Cartwright of "Vanderpump Rules" and "The Valley" fame saying "Rot in hell."
"Devin DENIED being in love?? This man fooled us all," @Shelby_Delaine posted with another fitting GIF.
Here's a hard pill to swallow! "realizing that jerk sam was actually right about devin the whole time," @kathleen_hanley said.
@litteralydevon did the honors of welcoming Strader into "The Bachelorette Hall of LAME" with photos of previously inducted members. That was quite the crowd-pleaser with 5,200 likes.
On X, @lurabardley, an entertainment and features reporter, shared an Instagram post Strader made a couple weeks ago captioned "Good Guys Always Win." Well, that didn't age well, now did it?
"Given what we now know, it's wild that he was still posting stuff like this, like, 2 weeks ago..." the X user wrote.
A post by @3Whatevah that was gaining traction with 2,000 likes asked the network not to allow Strader to use the "Bachelor" trademarks or have him on any more shows, alleging he "used" Tran for fame.
Fan favorite Jonathon still getting lots of love online
While Strader was getting hate, fan favorite Jonathon Johnson was getting love — yes still.
Jonathon made it into Tran's top three before being eliminated. During the "Men Tell All," he was invited by Palmer to be on "Bachelor in Paradise" and accepted.
This was in reference to the "Men Tell All" when Jonathon revealed he and Tran had a list of her best dresses from the season. He told her the dress she was wearing that night was the new first place, then proceeded to list the others.