We’re the first to admit we’re not the biggest fans of Nick Viall, and we don’t think we’re alone. But last night’s finale of The Bachelorette had us sympathizing with Nick for the first time as Kaitlyn rejected his proposal.
Now we’ve seen some pretty cringeworthy moments in Bachelorette history—Nick calling Andi out on After the Final Rose for having sex with him, anyone?—but we could feel the devastation through our TVs with this one. As Nick made clear, Kaitlyn’s willingness to let him propose (though technically he didn’t make it to the portion of his speech where he dropped to one knee) was misleading and stole from him a moment he only wanted to experience once.
So if Kaitlyn knew she was going to dump Nick ahead of their awkward poolside confrontation, she should have done the honorable thing and let him know before he got all spiffed up and came back to the mansion that will surely haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life. That’s what Andi did, and while it didn’t exactly end much better for her, at the very least it didn’t taint her proposal from Josh and anger Nick even further. The fact that this was the second time Nick would be sent home as the humiliated runner-up made this a battle that Kaitlyn was never going to win, though. And we certainly wouldn’t have wanted her to settle for Nick if her heart belonged to Shawn, would we?
We hate to place any of the blame on Kaitlyn because we have a feeling it was more a producer-driven decision than Kaitlyn wanting to have one of the most uncomfortable conversations ever shortly before her actual future fiancé proposed to her. But we wish that the show would rid itself of this tired, unnecessary formula. Sure, it’s fun to guess who’s going to step out of the first limo… right up until you realize the heartbreak that will soon follow. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re confident the show could find a better way to handle this situation.
And as for Nick, we think he has two options. Either run far from this show to find love if he's really serious about settling down. Or take a swing at being the Bachelor so he realizes that it’s not as easy as it seems.
How should Kaitlyn have handled her breakup with Nick, collegiettes?