With her return to Bachelor Nation, fans want to know: why did Becca and Garrett break up after The Bachelorette season 14 and who did she end up with on Bachelor in Paradise season 7?
Becca is one of 30-plus contestants on Bachelor in Paradise season 7, which premiered in August. The show, a spinoff of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, follows contestants from past seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette as they look for a second chance at love. Bachelor in Paradise season 7—which is the first season to air since season 6 two years ago due to the current health crisis—was filmed over the course of three weeks in June at the Playa Escondida Resort in Sayulita, a town in Vallarta-Nayarit, Mexico. The resort is the same location Bachelor in Paradise has filmed at since season 2.
Becca’s time on Bachelor in Paradise came a year after her split from Garrett, her winner from The Bachelorette season 14. So…why did Becca and Garrett break up after The Bachelorette season 14 and who did she end up with on Bachelor in Paradise season 7? (She’s the first former Bachelor or Bachelorette to be on Bachelor in Paradise after their season aired.) We answer all those questions ahead.
What was Becca and Garrett’s relationship like on The Bachelorette?
Photo: ABC/Paul Hebert.
Becca Kufrin, a 31-year-old publicist from Benson, Minnesota, was a contestant on The Bachelor season 22 with Arie Luyendyk Jr. She was the winner and got engaged to Arie at the Final Rose Ceremony. However, months after their engagement, Arie broke up with Becca on camera and reunited with his runner-up, Lauren Burnham, whom he married in 2019 and shares three kids with.
After her breakup with Arie, Becca became the season 14 Bachelorette. During the finale her Bachelorette season, she gave her final rose to Garrett Yrigoyen, a 32-year-old medical sales representative from Reno, Nevada, and the two got engaged. During the season, Garrett came under fire after screenshots showed that he had liked a series of offensive Instagram posts, which mocked undocumented immigrants, the trans community, liberal feminists, and Parkland, Florida, shooting survivor David Hogg. The posts he liked expressed views that contrasted those of Becca, who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election and the Women’s March. During the “After the Final Rose” special, Becca and Garrett addressed his social media behavior.
“The Instagram situation, I don’t condone that and I know that he stands by his apology and he feels so bad for everyone that he did offend,” Becca said at the time. “He didn’t mean it. But I just want to move forward, to learn and to grow and continue to educate ourselves. That’s all that you can ask for in another person is that somebody who recognizes if they make a mistake and do something wrong and to want to learn and grow from it, and that’s what he showed me.”
Garrett, for his part, confessed that he thought he could lose Becca from the posts. “I was really worried about it, that I might lose her from that, but I knew she knew who I was as a person,” he said. “I was a better person than I was presenting on social media. She knows I didn’t mean to hurt or offend anyone.” He continued, “I’m just trying to grow as a person and be a better person on a daily basis. She’s helping me through everything. We’ve been honest and open and transparent with one another since the beginning and when that all came out we attacked it because I feel like when I was liking things, it was going against things she stands for and that made it really hard on us as a couple. So when we started talking about that, we got through that together and we’re growing, we’re progressing and we’re moving forward.”
In 2019, a year after The Bachelorette season 14 finale, Becca and Garrett moved into an apartment together in San Diego, California, and adopted a dog. “It’s been a change! Because I’ve never lived anywhere other than Minnesota and I’ve never lived with a partner before,” Becca told People at the time. “I was very independent and used to living on my own, so it’s been different to adapt to someone else’s lifestyle.” She continued, “Garrett and I are just completely different in everything. I’m very organized and so when I come home, I like to put everything in a proper place and put it away, so you don’t see it.”
Why did Becca and Garrett break up after The Bachelorette?
September 2020, Becca announced that she and Garrett had broken up after two years together. “I don’t think it’s going to come as a shock to anyone, but Garrett and I have decided to end our engagement,” she said on an episode of her podcast, “Bachelor Happy Hour,” at the time. “After many conversations, we came to this decision. It wasn’t something that we just arrived at one night. It wasn’t based solely off of one Instagram post or somebody else’s opinions or comments. There’s much more to it. To any relationship, there’s a lot of layers, and it’s not for me to divulge details. It’s no one’s business other than what I’m telling you right now.”
So why did Becca and Garrett break up after The Bachelorette? Becca’s split announcement came after months of speculation that she and Garrett had ended their engagement. In an episode of “Bachelor Happy Hour” in June 2020, Becca revealed that she was unsure of where her and Garrett’s relationship was after he posted an Instagram photo of a thin blue line, which symbolized his support of the police, amid the Black Lives Matter movement and protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
“I want to say to our listeners out there—because I’m sure many will hear this back and wonder and ask and have opinions—for those who are curious about my relationship with Garrett at this point, all I can say right now is I don’t know,” Becca said at the time. “I can’t give anything more than that. It’s something that we are trying to work through and discuss and do work on at home at this time and that’s where the work will remain and that’s really the best I can give you at this point.”
Rachel Lindsay, the season 13 Bachelorette and Becca’s “Bachelor Happy Hour” cohost, slammed Garrett at the time for his support of the police. “He has doubled down on his beliefs,” Rachel said before referencing Garrett’s past social media likes that were exposed on Becca’s Bachelorette season. “This is not the first time he has had problematic behavior. When he was on his season, he had a history of ‘liking’ things that were racist, sexist, homophobic, calling the Parkland students ‘child actors.’ I mean, it was a lot. So, this is who this man is, and he’s a piece of shit.”
In an interview with Insider in January 2021, Becca revealed that the Black Lives Matter movement forced her and Garrett to talk about topics they hadn’t discussed before. “I’ve just really reined in what’s simply acceptable to me and what’s not,” she said. She continued, “When the pandemic hit and George Floyd was murdered that we started really having different types of conversations that we weren’t necessarily having before.”
Becca revealed that she and Garrett didn’t split over his Blue Lives Matter post, but it did start a conversation about their future. “I was like…what’s important to me? What’s important to him?” she said. “Are we going to be able to make a lasting relationship for a lifetime off of our differences?” She continued, “How are we going to raise kids? What kinds of conversations do we want to be having with those children? Can I still stay in this relationship and live with myself and feel that it’s the right decision for me and my future children?”
Garrett, for his part, hasn’t commented on his breakup with Becca, but he did respond to a fan on his Instagram Story in March 2021, explaining why he wants to move on from the Bachelor franchise. “I constantly get asked this question,” Garrett responded to a fan who asked why he and Becca broke up. “I know most of my supporters are viewers of the show and are the main base of my platform. I understand everyone wanting to know what exactly happened because you feel so invested into our lives and relationships. I truly don’t want to be known for the show. It’s not what defines me or my character.”
He continued, “I recognize everything going on TV has done for me, and I have no regrets about any of it. But I’m here now, chasing my dreams and goals and continuing to build on what I’d want to be remembered as. So out of respect to her and her family, I’m only going to answer this question ever as, it just didn’t work out.”
Who is Becca dating after The Bachelorette?
Image: Courtesy of ABC.
So…who is Becca dating after The Bachelorette? Becca became the first former Bachelor or Bachelorette to star on Bachelor in Paradise when she joined season 7 in August 2021. (Though season 21 Bachelor Nick Viall and season 23 Bachelor Colton Underwood have been on Bachelor in Paradise, they weren’t Bachelors until after their BiP seasons.) Becca joined Bachelor in Paradise season 7 in episode 4 and dated Thomas Jacobs, a contestant from The Bachelorette season 17 with Katie Thurston, for most of the season, according to Reality Steve. Before Fantasy Suites, Becca broke up with Thomas, according to Reality Steve, and they left Bachelor in Paradise single. However, Reality Steve reported that Becca and Thomas got back together after Bachelor in Paradise ended, and are still together as of August 2021.
Before Bachelor in Paradise season 7, there was hope that Becca would get back together with Blake Horstmann, the runner-up from her Bachelorette season. Blake revealed on the “Reality Life With Kate Casey” podcast in August 2021 that he and Becca talked before her Bachelor in Paradise season. “We did kind of chat here and there, and we were back in touch within the last, like, six months,” he said at the time. “It kind of came down to if she was going to do Paradise or not.”
He revealed that his feelings for Becca came back after her breakup with Garrett. “I always thought they would never break up. So like, I completely put her out of my head. It was never something, like, ‘When they break up …’ because I never thought they would,” he said. “When they did, it was, like, this weird thing of, ‘Well, I wonder if there’s anything still there?’”
He continued, “I would be willing to talk, of course. But we’ll see how Paradise works out because she’s going to Paradise. And I don’t know, that show can change you and those producers get a hold of you. The show doesn’t like me, the show doesn’t want to see us together. She has, like, the ABC podcast [“Bachelor Happy Hour”]. That’s kind of her thing. She is very much involved in that show. We’ll see.”
In an interview on the “Click Bait” podcast in August 2021, Becca responded to Blake’s claim that the Bachelor franchise doesn’t want her and Blake to get back together. “Blake and I have always been friends. We’ve always been supportive of one another,” she said. “In terms of the ‘talking,’ yeah, we’ve been in touch very sporadically, but nothing that I would say would warrant … a potential relationship.”
She continued, “At the end of the day, like, we’re two grown adults that make our own decisions. If we’re not together, then … it’s because we chose not to be together. It can’t be put on anyone else.”
Who is Garrett dating after The Bachelorette?
Source: Instagram
So…who is Garrett dating after The Bachelorette? In November 2020, Garrett went Instagram official with his girlfriend, Alex Farrar, a yoga instructor from San Diego, California, where Garrett lived with Becca before their breakup. Alex completed her yoga training in 2020 after six years of practicing and graduated from the University of Arizona in 2014, according to Us Weekly. She is three years younger than Garrett.
In an Instagram Story in March 2020, Garrett confirmed that he was dating someone new. “I met an incredible person who supports me and my goals and makes me very happy,” he said. He continued, “Life is too short to dwindle. There’s amazing people out there and if you pour everything into one and it doesn’t work out, then it wasn’t meant to be.”
Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays on ABC. Here’s how to watch it for free.
Image: Courtesy of Penguin Books.
To get more of an inside scoop, check out Los Angeles Times writer Amy Kaufman’s book, Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure, for a deep dive into the Bachelor franchise. The book uncovers the secrets of Bachelor Nation, from how much the Bachelor and the Bachelorette are paid to the rules contestants have to follow, that producers don’t want fans to know. It’s a must-read for any Bachelor Nation member.
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