The infamous Arie Luyendyk Jr. and his fiancee, Lauren Burnham, have “fled the country.” Those are Arie’s words.
Specifically, the two have embarked on a trip to Iceland where they can leave their past — mostly just Arie’s brutal breakup with Becca Kufrin — behind them.
But before long, the two of them will be back … and looking to get married.
Arie shared this happy photo on both Twitter and Instagram.
On Twitter, she shared it with a slew of others (below) from his and Lauren’s trip to Iceland, and wrote:
“Officially fled the country.” He followed that text with the least fitting use of a halo emoji that we’ve ever seen.
On Instagram, his caption got a touch more personal. He wrote:
“Posted this because I sent this to my mom and she said she’s never seen me happier. So much beauty here in Iceland including this one.”
By “this one,” his blandly pleasant caption means Lauren. Who is, of course, very beautiful.
E! reports that, per their source, Arie and Lauren went to Iceland because they needed a break from being on television.
“They wanted to get away from the madness and have a real normal vacation just the two of them as a newly engaged couple.”
People watch The Bachelor — even the American version — in plenty of places, all over the world. But … it doesn’t have nearly the sort of cultural omnipresence in Iceland.
In the US, the franchise is so ubiquitous that Saturday Night Live can parody it as part of their political satire.
Had Arie and Lauren decided to spend these next two weeks in the US, they would have been more or less under house arrest thanks to public attention.
There’s nothing wrong with romancing each other at home and living on takeout, but given the couple’s current fame (and Arie’s current infamy), they’d have to worry about unprofessional delivery drivers asking them questions or asking for a selfie.
In Iceland, they can be a little less high-profile and enjoy a visit to one of the most gorgeous countries on the planet.
The source continues, however, talking about the couple’s future plans.
And it sounds like they won’t remain TV-shy for long.
“Although there has been a lot of backlash surrounding Arie, the couple is really pushing for a TV wedding.”
Well, Arie proposed on camera. They might as well tie the knot the same way.
A lot of people would tune in to watch … or possibly to hate-watch. Some might wonder if Arie will have yet another on-camera change of heart.
“Lauren has been telling everyone that she is so excited to get married and wants it to happen very quickly.”
And perhaps Arie is on board with that rush to the altar.
“After everything that they have been through, they are ready to just seal the deal and spend forever together.”
Unless Arie changes his mind again, anyway.
Realistically, the media frenzy surrounding these two and the story of how they came together will die down over time.
Oh, they’ll always be interesting, but people will process Arie’s absolutely bonkers, unedited breakup with Becca.
Before long, of course, it will be Becca’s time to shine — because she’ll be the next Bachelorette.
Maybe she’ll find a man she deserves.
And maybe the Bachelor Nation will find the man they deserve and actually want as the next Bachelor.
In the mean time, we guess that Arie’s finally settled on the woman he wants.
He might not change his mind. Lauren was noted for not saying much during this past season.
Bekah Martinez says that Arie isn’t mature enough to get married, and revealed that he seemed to want to whittle down his contestants to the least assertive women who were more likely to go along with whatever he wanted.
Maybe he’s found that in Lauren.
If they’re both truly happy with their arrangement together … more power to them. We guess.
We hope that, at the very least, Lauren enjoys her time in Iceland.
