ABC has been slammed over a ‘cruel’ finale of The Bachelorette after it forced star Jenn Tran to watch back her ill-fated proposal while weeping uncontrollably.
The network has been accused of humiliating the 26-year-old during Tuesday night’s explosive three-hour season end.
Tran, a physician assistant student from Hillsdale, New Jersey, proposed to love interest Devin Strader, 28, in Hawaii, but he broke it off over the phone shortly after the show wrapped and refused to talk to her for months.
Tran was then forced to sit next to Strader and relive the pain of her breakup in front millions of viewers, after show host Jesse Palmer asked if they should watch a video of her proposal.
‘Do I have any choice?’ Devastated Tran asked before the clip was screened anyway, causing her to collapse into sobs for the duration.
ABC has been slammed over a ‘cruel’ finale of The Bachelorette after it forced star Jenn Tran to watch back her ill-fated proposal while weeping uncontrollably
Her treatment, especially as the show’s first Asian-American lead, has sparked fury at ABC, with many fans vowing to boycott the series entirely.
‘I am sick to my stomach! Jenn should not have been put through all that – how dare you ABC,’ TikTok user Layla Taremi fumed.
Another, Allie Renee, posted a video through tears claiming she would never watch the franchise again.
‘What the producers made Jenn sit through was complete evil,’ Renee said.
‘Despite how casting works, the fact that so many men went into it expecting a different woman, they set her up for failure from the beginning.
‘I just feel like watching after the final rose episode was truly horrific.’
‘We waited so long for an Asian-American Bachelorette for it to end like this?’ Melissa Hong said. ‘I am completely appalled at how they treated her […] The set seemed so dismissive, so cruel, so overlooked.
‘As an Asian-American myself, something I think a lot of us felt is that they didn’t give Jenn the time of day. They just skipped over her trauma.
‘You just witnessed a woman in the height of her heartbreak, I am just so disappointed. I know it’s reality TV but at the end of the day she deserves better.’
Tran was forced to relive the pain of her breakup while sat next to the man who caused it when the show screened her proposal to Devin Shrader during the finale on Tuesday
Viewers took to social media to express their anger with ABC with some vowing never to watch the show again
Even Good Morning America host Lara Spencer admitted she found the finale ‘hard to watch’ during Tran’s first interview since the controversy, which took place Wednesday morning.
During the segment, Tran said she had no regrets proposing to Shrader but that he was clearly not the same man she had fallen for.
The segment ended with the revelation Tran will appear on the next season of Dancing With the Stars and with Spencer mouthing, ‘you did great’ as their interview closed.
The Bachelorette opened on the final week in Hawaii with Jenn saying she was in love with both Strader and Marcus Shoberg, 32, an Army Ranger veteran from Cloquet, Minnesota. Her family had flown in to support her.
Tran shared with her parents that Strader had already told her that he loved her, but Marcus hadn’t said it yet.
She ended up choosing Strader and proposing to him, with the Houston-based freight company owner proposing back.
But during the live finale, Tran said as soon as they left Hawaii, things were different.
She said Strader started to pull away, and she felt secondary to his life – explaining through tears that Strader called her and broke off the engagement.
‘Obviously, I failed you,’ Devin said. ‘Everything I felt for you was real’
Show host Jesse Palmer told Jenn that he was sorry it didn’t work out for her
Devin and Jenn kissed after getting engaged in Hawaii
‘He had basically said that he didn’t love me anymore and didn’t feel the same way,’ Tran said. ‘He regretted getting engaged.’
Palmer said he was shocked. Tran said she didn’t understand what changed, and she last saw him a month ago.
She also revealed that he had befriended former Bachelor alum Maria Georgas – who had appeared on the same Bachelor season as Jenn – shortly after their breakup and was seen clubbing with co-star Jeremy Simon, despite being supposedly heartbroken.
As Strader came out and joined Jenn on the stage, she told him that she could try to understand someone who changed their mind, but couldn’t understand him ending the engagement on a phone call. She said it was disrespectful that she saw the next day he followed Maria on Instagram.
‘It completely invalidated our entire relationship,’ Jenn said.
‘Obviously, I failed you,’ Strader said. ‘Everything I felt for you was real.’
Strader said when filmed ended, he had a lot of doubts. Jenn said he hid all his feelings of doubt.
In her first interview since the controversy, Tran said she did not regret proposing to Shrader but did not address the backlash
But even host Lara Spencer acknowledged that the finale was ‘hard to watch’ before reassuring Tran she had done a good job
‘I was regretfully late on letting you know,’ Strader said, eliciting groans from the audience.
‘I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you,’ Tran said. ‘You had one foot out the door the entire time.’
Strader said he felt he couldn’t live up to her expectations and what she deserved.
It was a far cry from the final scenes of their relationship on the show, when Strader told Tran she was the most important thing in his life.
‘I love the thought of forever with you,’ he said.