If you’re a fan of the Bachelor franchise, you likely read months ago about Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon getting engaged.
But did the much-discussed and celebrated proposal live up the hype? To many articles written about it? To the hopes and dreams of everyone who has followed the adventures of these reality stars?
We found out on Monday evening.
With Ashley’s ex, Kevin Wendt, standing right there on the beach, Haibon got down on one knee and popped the pressing question to his girlfriend, just as previously advertised and anticipated.
“Isn’t it crazy, three years ago we met right at this spot on this very beach. I love you so much… You’ve always been there for me,” Jared said, as Ashley started crying.
“You’re everything to me,” he added.
A diamond ring by jeweler Neil Lane in hand, Haibon then got to the crux of his romantic point.
“You’d make me the happiest man alive if I got the opportunity to spend the rest of my life with you. So, Ashley, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she screamed, referring the stunning sparkler as “perfect,” probably because it was in her contract to do so, and adding:
“You’re my soulmate and I love you.”
Ashley and Jared first met on Bachelor in Paradise Season 2.
They dated for a little while and Ashley was convinced early on that Jared was The One — but it took him a little bit longer to arrive at the same conclusion.
After Jared dissed her on Season 3 of this same show, the stars remained friends until Haibon got jealous that Iaconetti had found a new lover and finally decided to make his ultimate move.
The thing is… Kevin watched the entire proposal called down and called it a “slap in the face” after their breakup in March.
Indeed, he and Ashley for several months earlier after they connected on Bachelor Winter Games in 2017.
The Canadian firefighter evn accused Ashley of cheating on him with Jared on the premiere episode of Bachelor in Paradise this season.
“That really hurt me,” he said at the time.
Later on Monday night, while talking to Jordan, Kevin seemingly alluded to Ashley’s virginity.
Was he not only an ex-boyfriend, but the first person to ever go to bed with Iaconetti?
“I am a very monumental part of her dating life, let’s just put it that way,” he said on Bachelor in Paradise. “I’m a big part of her life.”
We wrote three years ago about this possibility, putting it out there online that Wendt may very well have put it to Iaconetti.
But that was then and this is now and the future is the future. It’s all about Jared and Ashley going forward, with fans wondering when the two will get married.
“We wish we could do it on TV, but, you know, we haven’t really had the offer, so we’re doing it on our own right now,” Ashley told Entertainment Tonight of wedding planning last month, adding:
“It’s more stressful than we thought.”
“It’s a little surreal,” Haibon added.
It’s also very exciting!
Congratulations, you crazy and in love kids!