Warning: Spoilers from part two of “The Bachelorette” season finale below.
Hannah Brown’s season of “The Bachelorette” is over — but it’s not the fairy tale happy ending she expected.
“I am not with Jed anymore,” Brown said, speaking live to host Chris Harrison at a studio in LA. The two broke up over the phone.
“I know that I deserved more than that,” she said.
At the beginning of Tuesday’s finale episode, Harrison warned the audience: “We will see a proposal…that can only be described as cringeworthy.”
Brown chose contestant Jed Wyatt to be her forever, only to break up with him after finding out he lied about his true intentions for being on the show.
Fans have been wary of Brown’s love for Wyatt since June, when Page Six reported on allegations that he had a girlfriend while competing for Hannah’s hand on the show — which he only appeared on to advance his fledgling music career.
As the first night of the finale ended on Monday, Brown shared a message to the audience and viewers. “I know there are a lot of rumors out there, and honestly, tomorrow night, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. But I have a lot of questions that need to be answered, so hope I’ll be able to do that,” she said sternly.
Jed Wyatt (left) and Tyler CameronABC
At the altar, when Cameron started to propose to Brown, she stopped him.
“This isn’t it,” he said, realizing what that meant.
Breaking up with Cameron, Brown was sweet and blunt. “My life with you would be amazing. And when I told you I was falling in love with you I mean[t] it. I love someone else. I’m so sorry,” she said.
Cameron kept it real: “I’m still going to be your biggest fan and root for you. I wish you and Jed nothing but success.”
Wyatt, of course, brought his guitar with him to the altar, along with an engagement ring.
“Talking is hard sometimes for me,” he said, whipping out his six-string.
“After all that you’ve been through/ and those times you wish you knew who was on the other side of all those restless nights/ we always knew it’s me and you/ time stands still for us,” he sang, not well.
Cringeworthy indeed, Chris Harrison. Spot on.
The final rose ceremony was filmed two months before this live finale night, before the June revelations from his ex-girlfriend.
Brown says that two days after they got engaged, Wyatt revealed to her that he had been dating another woman and ended it a week before he went on the show.
“A few weeks later I get news that a People Magazine article was out and it was not the same story I was told. The article said that he didn’t really end the relationship before he came here…The extent of that and what was withheld for me is not OK. It’s not what I thought I said yes to,” Brown said, ready to confront Wyatt.
In a scene similar to Becca Kufrin’s confrontation with Ari Luyendyk, Brown was an investigator: “Why did you wait until all this happened to tell me, or not even to tell me but to let me find out what actually happened?”
“There was two very different views of what actually happened,” retorted Wyatt.
Wyatt said the relationship with Haley Stevens began in late October. They dated, slept together, went on two trips and met his parents, though he says they were not in an “exclusive” relationship.
“In my mind, I was going there for a music thing,” admitted Wyatt about his original intentions for going on “The Bachelorette.”
Wyatt admits to never breaking up with Stevens. “To me, I ended it in my heart but not verbally,” he said, also conceding to the fact that he told Stevens that he loved her. He also slept with Stevens the night before he went on the ABC dating show.
Brown revealed that when she and Wyatt were engaged, he allowed strange women to come into his home in Nashville and threw them in the pool.
“I know I had opportunities to tell you but I would get there and think I would lose you, which is selfish,” said Wyatt, knowing his decision was “cowardly.”
“That’s not what I said yes to,” she said, taking off her engagement ring and putting it on the table.
When seeing Brown for the first time since the breakup, Wyatt was nothing but apologetic.
“First and foremost from the bottom of my heart I want to admit that I’m sorry. Especially in hindsight and now that I had time to review myself and my past and my behaviors, I… I see that I wasn’t the best that I could be,” he said.
“I’m sorry that this has hurt, your family, your friends, Bachelor nation, my family,” he continued. “I am responsible for this.”
Though Wyatt did go on the show to promote his career, he didn’t expect to find true love, he says. “When I was reached out for doing the show I never imagined I would meet the person I would spend the rest of my life with. I never would have dreamed you would be there. I’m sorry.”
Brown was nothing but kind to her former man. “I did fall in love with you and I know that person’s in there,” she said through tears. “I hope that from this you will be honest and learn and grow into the man that I think you can be for whoever in the future.”
“You’re still in love with this woman?” asked host Chris Harrison.
“I always will be,” said Wyatt.
“I’m not trying to punish you, but my feelings have changed,” said Brown, when asked the same.
Later, talking with Cameron for the first time since their almost engagement in Greece, Brown was not coy about her romantic interest in him.
“Those feelings just didn’t go away,” she said. “You’re an incredible guy and I’m a single girl,” asking Cameron out for a drink sometime.
“I would love to, just tell me when,” he replied.
