When it comes to forming lasting relationships, The Bachelorette is running circles (or should we say “rings”?) around The Bachelor.
The female-led spinoff of ABC’s reality franchise has had a much higher success rate at producing couples that actually stay together than the original: While The Bachelor has only seen one (!) final couple get married and stay married, The Bachelorette has had four marriages among their final couples, with several more currently engaged as well. (So are women just better than men at picking the best match for themselves when faced with a couple dozen options? Yeah, probably.)
But that doesn’t mean every Bachelorette fairy tale had a happy ending. In fact, most of them ended in heartbreak. We’re taking a stroll down memory lane and seeing which Bachelorette couples stayed together long enough to walk down the aisle… and which ones didn’t even make it past the After the Final Rose reunion special.
Read on for our comprehensive list of each Bachelorette and the man who received her final rose, in order of how long they stayed together, from shortest to longest. (And if you’re looking for the same list for The Bachelor, we’ve got you covered — click here.)
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Jen and Jerry: 0 days (Season 3, 2005)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Jen Schefft is in the Bachelorette history books: She’s the only star (so far) who didn’t accept a marriage proposal. She did choose Jerry in the finale, but when he popped the question, she told him to hold onto the ring and see “if you feel the same way about me down the road that you do now.” He did… but she didn’t. On After the Final Rose, she rejected his proposal and walked away sans ring.
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Hannah and Jed: 0 days (Season 15, 2019)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC At least Hannah got engaged to her singer-songwriter beau Jed and enjoyed a few weeks of premarital bliss with him. Then she found out Jed had a serious girlfriend before and during filming, so she dumped his two-timing butt during the live After the Final Rose special. Her attempt to rekindle things with runner-up Tyler C. didn’t work out, either. But hey, she just appeared on The Celebrity Dating Game, so there’s that!
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Emily and Jef: 2 months (Season 8, 2012)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC This odd couple didn’t last long: The Southern belle and the skateboarder (yes, that’s “Jef,” with one F) got engaged in the finale, and he even met her daughter Ricki. But they broke off their engagement just a couple months later.
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DeAnna and Jesse: 3 months (Season 4, 2008)
Image Credit: Everett Collection DeAnna was also a fan of the extreme sports: She picked pro snowboarder Jesse to receive her final rose, and they set a wedding date for the following year. But they didn’t make it that far: Their love connection wiped out soon after.
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Andi and Josh: 5 months (Season 10, 2014)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Andi took a swing at love with baseball player Josh, but it was ultimately a swing and a miss. They split up after less than half a year together. It wasn’t an amicable breakup, either: Andi later called her time with Josh “the most volatile and f—ked up relationship of my life” in her 2016 memoir.
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Michelle and Nayte: 5 months (Season 18, 2021)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC We were rooting extra hard for these two, since Michelle (from Matt’s Bachelor season) and her chosen man Nayte became the first Black couple in Bachelor/Bachelorette history. But alas, the two broke off their engagement and went their separate ways less than half a year later, with Michelle admitting that trying to have a relationship “in the public eye” was not “easy.”
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Clare and Dale: 10 months (Season 16, 2020)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC So Clare upended the Bachelorette formula by zeroing in on Dale from day one and cutting her season short, accepting a proposal from him in just the fourth episode. Their whirlwind romance went sour a couple months later, though, when Dale announced they had broken up — which came as a surprise to a “crushed” Clare. She and Dale later patched things up and got back together for a few months, but they called it quits for good soon after, never making it down the aisle.
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Meredith and Ian: 11 months (Season 2, 2004)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC In The Bachelorette‘s sophomore run, the former model and chef cooked up a romance with her chosen man Ian, and the two did get engaged. But less than a year later, they decided to get separate checks.
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Tayshia and Zac: 11 months (Season 16, 2020)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC The newly crowned Bachelorette co-host seemed to be going strong with her man Zac after the two of them got engaged in last year’s finale. Alas, they called it quits in November, and Tayshia struggled to talk about the split on The Bachelorette‘s “Men Tell All” special.
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Jillian and Ed: 11 months (Season 5, 2009)
Image Credit: Everett Collection These two couldn’t quite make it to their first anniversary, either: Jillian handed Ed her final rose in the finale and accepted his proposal, but their love fizzled before they were able to walk down the aisle. It probably didn’t help that Ed was reportedly emailing girls back home during production that he was “not, in any way, attracted” to Jillian. Ouch.
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Ali and Roberto: 1 year, 3 months (Season 6, 2010)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Ali Fedotowsky had one of the more notable Bachelorette runs — remember when Frank ditched her to go back to his ex during fantasy suites week? — which ended with her getting engaged to the seductive Roberto. After a year-plus of wedding planning, though, these two called it quits.
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Becca and Garrett: 2 years (Season 14, 2018)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Becca had a chance to mend her broken heart after Arie savagely dumped her on The Bachelor, and she thought she found her Mr. Right in Garrett. He may have turned out to be Mr. Far Right, however: Garrett had to apologize after liking Instagram posts that mocked transgender people, immigrants and liberal women — and since Becca was a vocal Hillary Clinton supporter, it’s not a huge shock that things between them went south before they got hitched.
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Kaitlyn and Shawn: 3 years (Season 11, 2015)
Image Credit: Everett Collection After beating out Britt to star in Season 11 and turning down a proposal from perpetual Bachelorette bridesmaid Nick Viall, Kaitlyn handed her final rose to personal trainer Shawn. They got engaged and had a respectable three-year run together before splitting up in 2018. But there’s a Bachelor Nation twist to Kaitlyn’s love story: She’s currently engaged to Jason Tartick… who finished third on Becca’s season.
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Rachel and Bryan: 5 years, and counting! (Season 13, 2017)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC The Bachelor franchise’s first Black star surprised viewers when she picked Bryan over dreamy runner-up Peter. But it looks like she made the right call: She and Bryan got married in 2019 — our first wedding on this list! — and are still going strong today, a full five years after their finale aired.
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JoJo and Jordan: 6 years, and counting! (Season 12, 2016)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC After a lengthy engagement, JoJo and her man Jordan (the brother of NFL superstar Aaron Rodgers) finally tied the knot in May, more than five years after her season wrapped up. They’ve also hosted a number of reality shows together… which we all know is the key to a solid relationship.
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Desiree and Chris: 9 years, and counting! (Season 9, 2013)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Desiree may have cried when Brooks dumped her during fantasy suites week, but it all worked out for the best. She accepted a marriage proposal from Chris in the finale, and the two got married in 2015. They’re still together and have two sons, Asher and Zander.
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Ashley and J.P.: 9 years (Season 7, 2011)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Ashley and her beau J.P. were dedicated to putting their relationship on TV. Not only did they meet and get engaged on her season of The Bachelorette, but they also got married in a televised special the following year, with Chris Harrison officiating and several Bachelor Nation alums in attendance. They later had a son, Fordham, and a daughter, Essex — but alas, they announced their separation in 2020 and became the first Bachelor/ette couple to file for divorce.
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Trista and Ryan: 19 years, and counting! (Season 1, 2003)
Image Credit: Everett Collection Ah, we’ve arrived at the gold standard of Bachelor Nation couples: The very first Bachelorette, Trista, picked firefighter Ryan to receive her final rose, and they’ve been by each other’s side ever since. They got married later that year and have two children, son Max and daughter Blakesley. Sure, they did air their dirty laundry in a 2014 season of Marriage Boot Camp — but hey, no marriage is perfect.
