Every episode of The Bachelorette leads up to the exciting finale, when fans finally learn who the main cast member gets engaged to. Jenn Tran‘s season was particularly enjoyable, but the season 21 finale revealed the tragic news that Jenn picked Devin Strader… only to have him break up with her.
From consuming kangaroo testicles to hometown dates, The Bachelorette season 21 delivered just as many shocking moments as every other season of the ABC reality series. But what possible reason would Devin have for ending things with Jenn so quickly? And who is Maria, the woman he started following on Instagram? Let’s get to the bottom of this!
What happened between Jenn, Devin, and Maria on The Bachelorette?
In one of the most unexpected moments in The Bachelorette history (and there have been a lot, like when memorable cast member Brad Womack didn’t get engaged to anyone), Jenn and Devin got engaged… and then he broke it off.
Jenn explained during the After The Rose episode that Devin called her and said he had fallen out of love with her. She said Devin “felt like something had been off since the second he proposed. He regretted getting engaged.” While you likely started yelling at your TV as soon as you heard this (and you were in good company with other The Bachelorette fans), things got even more upsetting. Jenn shared that Devin totally ghosted her (so mature!) and wasn’t answering her texts.
While people break off engagements over a lack of strong feelings or not wanting to commit, there might be another layer to this love story. According to StyleCaster, Devin said on Instagram Stories that he wanted to chat with Jenn IRL, but ended up just phoning her instead. But since he took those Stories off his account, fans couldn’t see them for very long. StyleCaster also reported that TikTok user @zacharyreality said Devin and Jenn argued because she heard he was unfaithful and he wasn’t able to “handle the publicity.” While it’s impossible to know if this is correct since Devin and Jenn haven’t said so, it’s definitely true that if you get engaged on TV, there are a lot of eyes on you. But if Devin really felt this way, why would he go on the show in the first place?!
While this would have been bad enough, the story got even worse. Jenn called Devin “disrespectful” for following Maria Georgas on Instagram the day after he said they couldn’t be together anymore. Maria and Jenn were both on The Bachelor season 28, and Maria was almost the star of The Bachelorette season 21. According to USA Today, Maria said on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast that she “was not ready” to take it on, and “It was mine until I said it wasn’t.”
Given Jenn and Maria’s reality TV history, Devin following Maria on Instagram clearly stung more than if he had started following someone she didn’t know. While there is no proof that the two are seeing each other, fans are curious if they could be.
If Devin honestly thought it was fine to break up with Jenn over the phone, then it’s a good thing that they’re no longer getting married. The Bachelorette fans will be rooting Jenn on, and hoping she finds her happily ever after ASAP.