Happily ever after? Not every season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette ends with an engagement. Some leads continue dating their winner without putting a ring on their finger, while others leave the franchise single.
Surprisingly, only one Bachelorette has left the reality dating show without a fiancée. As for the guys, ten leading men opted not to get down on one knee and propose to their finalist.
The most recent Bachelor to leave without a Neil Lane ring was Matt James. He sent home runner-up Michelle Young before the finale and opted not to propose to winner Rachael Kirkconnell. They left season 25 as boyfriend and girlfriend but split shortly after in light of her social media controversy. However, they rekindled their romance and are still dating.
Brad Womack is the leading man most known for indecision. During season 11, he dumped both finalists DeAnna Pappas and Jenni Croft. He returned as the Bachelor four seasons later, where he got engaged to Emily Maynard, but they split shortly after.
While the whole point of the reality dating show is to find love, season 6 Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky told Life & Style it’s actually not that easy.
“The pressure of the show is hard,” the mom of two explained in 2019 about why many couples break up — if they make it off the show together at all. “You’re set up for failure. You really are. The people that make it are lucky.”
She added, “If I put you in a room with 25 guys or girls, and said, ‘You’re going to marry one of these people.’ What are the chances of that? Not good, right? I always say, the Bachelor or the Bachelorette should have a say in the 25 contestants.”
She used her own season as a perfect example. “I told the producers I was looking for somebody quirky, witty and smart. I described a guy that likes computers and wears Converse, very generic, but there was one guy like that on my season,” she recalled about her own time on the show. “Maybe a handful out of the 25 [guys or girls] are picked for you, the others are picked for TV.”
Keep scrolling to see every Bachelor and Bachelorette who didn’t get engaged on the show!