The Bachelorette Finale Was a Total Failure for Jenn Tran

Hen partyThe 21st season finale of Bachelor Nation aired on Tuesday, September 3. Among the many heartbreaking revelations and shocking betrayals witnessed by the Bachelor Nation contestants during the three-hour live event, the biggest surprise was the horrific treatment of this season’s star, Jenn Tran.

A season that was praised and touted as historic, celebrating the first Asian American Hen party lead delivered an unprecedented, dramatic ending, as host Jesse Palmer relentlessly promised. Unfortunately, the ending came at the expense of lead, who spent the season pouring out her heart and proving time and again that she was here for the right reasons, only to be burned by her final two men and the dirty work of the franchise producers… again!

After coming to the difficult conclusion that Marcus Shoberg’s feelings for her weren’t strong enough, Tran refused to get back into a relationship with the emotionally unavailable man and sent him home. We watched as she went to Palmer, told him she was “100% sure” about her decision, and revealed that not only was she ready to get engaged to Devin Strader, but that she wanted to propose to him first in the steamy series! Bachelor Nation should have we watched the proposal play out and learned the heartbreaking events that unfolded in a linear fashion. If we had done that, I’m sure Tran’s emotional trauma would have been greatly minimized. Instead, Palmer first took our Season 21 lead out, had her tearfully tell the world that her fiancé Devin Strader had completely backed out of their relationship shortly after filming wrapped, called off their engagement over the phone in July, and ignored her for weeks as the final episodes aired. That awful, horrible, no good, very bad reality should have been Tran’s sole source of pain during the live finale. But in a gutless move that sickened Bachelor Nation, the producers decided to up the emotional stakes at her expense.

The painful sequence of events continued when Palmer invited Strader on stage to talk to Tran for the first time since he ignored her. She burst into tears, questioning his intentions on the show and dissecting his actions after filming wrapped. She called him out for promoting episodes and posting memes on Instagram week after week, while she watched his lies every Monday night, heartbroken, knowing that the version of himself he presented on the show wasn’t true. After Palmer gave Strader time to speak — during which he failed to take proper responsibility for his actions — the host blasted footage of the proposal, even after Tran hesitated when asked if she wanted to watch it play out in front of hundreds of people in the studio and millions at home. “Do I have a choice?” she asked rhetorically, knowing full well that she didn’t really have the option to make that decision.

Knowing that Tran and Strader’s relationship has crashed and burned since that day in Hawaii, it seemed that all the franchise had to gain from airing the proposal clip—in that chaotic order, nonetheless!—was a heightened shock factor and a gut-wrenching live reaction to Tran sobbing uncontrollably in front of a studio audience while sitting on a couch with the same man who disrespected her and her family. It’s no secret that the franchise has made its share of mistakes and endured heavy criticism in the past, for everything from racial misconduct to poorly vetted casting and so on. None of the mistakes were justified and none of them should be excused, but seeing this deeply distasteful display of cruelty and humiliation at the hands of the producers after spending So We spent a lot of time over the past year vowing to right the wrongs of the past and protect our advantages, and it felt like a new low.