The divisive Bachelor season featuring Arie Luyendyk Jr. will likely soon be just a footnote in the past, as the woman he ultimately rejected, Becca Kufrin, will begin her very own Bachelorette journey this Monday. (As a recap, Luyendyk Jr. originally chose Kufrin in the finale and proposed, only to dump her a few weeks later for the very quiet runner-up contestant, Lauren Burnham. They will be married next year in a non-televised ceremony.) It was an ending that caused a media circus in regard to Luyendyk Jr. wanting to film his extremely emotional break-up with Kufrin, which ended up being a half-hour spectacle in human misery — mostly because Kufrin wasn’t aware a breakup was coming, and was baited into meeting Luyendyk Jr. under the guise of a romantic couple’s weekend. Now, a few months after everything went down, the pseudo-gatekeeper of the Bachelor franchise, Chris Harrison, is admitting Luyendyk Jr. handled the situation poorly.
“Even I say, he was a knucklehead. He made some really dumb decisions. He didn’t perform as perfectly as he probably would’ve liked,†Harrison told THR in a new interview. “If he could go back, he’d probably fix some things. But he and Lauren are in love and at the end of the day, the most important thing is that he’s with the girl he should be with and Becca’s good.†As for Kufrin, she’s already revealed that her Bachelorette season ended with a proposal. She’s gotta get her girl squad together and celebrate.