You won’t read this among The Bachelor spoilers, but after a decade and a half and 35 seasons on ABC, you really shouldn’t need to:
On Monday night’s finale, prepare to cry.
And we’re not talking about some quiet weeping. We mean prepare to cry ALL the tears, because all three people involved sure will be.
Heading into the final rose ceremony, where he must choose Raven Gates or Vanessa Grimaldi as The Bachelor winner, Nick Viall has:
1. A stunning engagement ring (from Neil Lane, natch).
2. The perfect setting (a log cabin in Lapland, Finland).
3. An avalanche of nerves, fear and self-doubt.
Good times all around. Even for a guy who has made openly bawling on The Bachelor franchise his calling card, this ought to be a doozy.
The Waukesha, Wisconsin, native has endured three TV rejections in as many years, and well, that will mess with your head after awhile.
“Nick was scared to death,” a show source says.
“He said if he left alone, he would be devastated.”
But was that level of inner torment unnecessary?
Everything we’ve read and heard about the finale indicates that Viall indeed popped the question to the woman of his choice in Finland.
As for whether it’s special education teacher Vanessa Grimaldi or boutique owner Raven Gates, and whether or not she says yes?
Follow the links above for spoilers. We’re not giving it away here … other than to say Nick picked a $ 93,000, 4-carat diamond rock.
Viall “was over the moon” about proposing on the finale, shares a production insider, but having been down this road, it was also tough.
Hours before the moment of the truth, Nick cracked.
As the runner-up professed her love, not knowing that she would be the runner-up and not the winner, Viall knew her pain like no other.
“He wanted to let her feel like she left nothing on the table,” the inside source explains of Viall’s motivation in letting her get that far.
Then he cut her loose, a feeling he remembers well.
“He told her his heart was with someone else,” says the source, noting that Nick felt awful for going through with the ceremony at all.
“He tells the runner-up, ‘I’ve been so selfish.’”
Viall felt bad for keeping her around, and moreover, “he could relate to the woman he was sending home more than the woman chosen.”
“Nick had empathy for her,” the production insider reports, noting that “it was hard for him to let her go because it hit so close to home.”
Their parting of ways hit both hard, to say the least.
“The finale is very emotional,” says the insider.
As for the burning questions of who Nick does propose to, if she says yes, and assuming she does, whether they will possibly last?
All of that remains to be seen, but we’ll tell you this:
It ain’t over until it’s over, and we’ve been promised a “historic” finale, so there may be a twist in store the likes of which we’ve never seen.
Of course, Chris Harrison and Mike Fleiss play the “history” card more often than Nick cries, so you can’t take that at face value either.
Who do you think he will pick, and will she accept?!
