Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The Bachelor & The Bachelorette Couples: Who"s Still Together?


The Bachelor"s 2017 season has come to a close, with Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi engaged and utterly, blissfully in love.


Or something. Judging by the reaction of fans and Bachelor Nation members, their breakup will be immediate if not sooner.


Maybe we"re reading too much into a single interview on After the Final Rose. What do you think? Will Nick and Vanessa last?


Are they a new golden couple for the franchise, a la Trista and Ryan, Ashley and J.P., Jason and Molly and Desiree and Chris?


Or another Juan Pablo and Nikki Ferrell / Andi Dorfman and Josh Murray / Chris Soules and Whitney Bischoff? Or worse?


Who is living happily ever after? Who is not?


You don"t need The Bachelor spoilers to tell you that the "made it" list is a lot shorter than the other, though there are exceptions.


A final rose does not a future make. Just ask Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell, the latest duo to call it quits (after a year-plus).


Perhaps Nick and Vanessa will surprise, but based on the franchise"s track record, and just the human condition in general?


We"re not betting on it. Just saying.


Take a look at some notable duos from The Bachelor and Bachelorette and see whether they"re still together since the show:




1. Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi


Nick and vanessa on atfr

Look … we wish Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi all the best. That was just the least inspiring public debut from a Bachelor couple since Juan Pablo and Nikki. Also, it’s Nick Viall. Guy seems to have been bitten hard by the fame bug, and Vanessa doesn’t want to leave Canada. Just saying. The odds make them a definite underdog.



2. JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers


Jordan rodgers and jojo fletcher after the final rose

JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers are an interesting case, both seemingly over the moon in love and behind the proverbial eight ball since day one. They certainly seem to have weathered whatever storms have been in their path thus far, but it’s still in the “honeymoon” phase, and we can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to Aaron’s little brother than we know – or that JoJo does at this point. Chances they’ll make it to the altar? 50-50.



3. Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell


Ben higgins and lauren b

It was a good year, closer to a year and a half actually, which is a long time for any relationship, and Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell recently called out what they deemed as “fake news” that said they had broken up … but they canceled their wedding and just admitted that they broke up. #realnews



4. Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth


Kaitlyn bristowe and shawn booth

Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth have looked the part of the happy couple ever since they got engaged in August 2015. But will their engagement actually last and stand the test of time? The show’s track record suggests otherwise … but here we are a year and a half later, so the joke’s on us?



5. Chris Soules and Whitney Bischoff


Whitney bischoff and chris soules on gma

Chris Soules and Whitney Bischoff just got engaged on The Bachelor season finale in March 2015 … only to break up in May 2015! What seemed like the perfect fit turned out to be anything but.



6. Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum


Ashley and jp on the bachelorette

Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum are married. He won her heart on The Bachelorette, and in life. They recently welcomed their first child together as well.


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Jonathan Hartono: I"m NOT Courting Jana Duggar!

Whether you’re excited that she’s still on the market or sad that she’s still toiling away and single, rumors of Jana Duggar courting are false.


Just ask Jonathan Hartono, the man linked to “Cinderella” Duggar by various media sources this month, who came out and said as much.



Seemingly credible reports surfaced in recent weeks tying the eldest Duggar daughter, 27, to this longtime friend of the famous Arkansans.


Alas, like previous rumors linking the saintly beauty to Lawson Bates (or more ridiculously, Tim Tebow), it looks like they were just that:


Rumors.


The Duggar Family Blog, which is run by two friends of the TLC family, addressed the Hartono speculation and promptly shot it down:


“A rumor that Jana Duggar is in a courtship with Jonathan Hartono, a foreign exchange student from Indonesia who has been close friends with the Duggars since he and his sister Jennifer met Jana and John-David [Duggar] on a mission trip seven years ago, has been circulating in the tabloids.”



“Many of our readers have been asking if the rumor is true, so we wanted to inform you that it is not.”


“Jonathan has confirmed that he is still single and not in a relationship.”


Well. That settles that rather abruptly, no?


Insiders claimed that Jana and Jonathan, a Florida based student, were an item in early May, calling the couple “so sweet and fun.”


“Jonathan and his sister often stayed with the Duggars during breaks from school in the summer and over holidays,” said a Radar source.


“He was always over the house,” the insider added.


“They Duggars watched over him like family.”



We’ll give the tabloids this: Jonathan Hartono is a real person with a real connection to the Duggars, as his Instagram account proves.


He’s attended weddings with the family and even had a “date” with Jana’s father, Jim Bob … it just wasn’t about courting Jana Duggar.


Jonathan addressed that particular event with a photo and caption explaining the nature of his outing with the Duggar patriarch:


Bowling. He and Jim Bob and some others went bowling, and the “1-on-1” that occurred was of the tie-breaking playoff variety.


“Definitely did not have a 1 on 1 date with Mr. Duggar it was a 1 versus 1 tiebreaker bowling game with everybody else watching LOL.”


“And, no, not courting Jana haha God Bless y’all #stillsingle.”



Jana has not personally addressed the relationship rumors, but she did appear single on Sunday in a clip made for their mother Michelle.


“Momma, we’re so grateful for you and just the many years that you’ve invested in our lives,” Jana said, along with her siblings.


“From the late night talks to the early mornings and just getting up and fixing us breakfast. There’s many more things that we appreciate you.”


Fans showered Jana with Mother’s Day love in what appeared to be subtle shade thrown at Michelle, but that’s another story.


In any case, between Hartono, Lawson Bates and Lawson’s older brother Zach Bates, Jana has been linked to some quality individuals.


So why is she still single?!



Jana recently spoke about meeting “The One” during a sit-down with Crown of Beauty magazine, and admitted that it’s been difficult.


“I know how it feels to wait for ‘Prince Charming’ to come along. I’m still waiting. Waiting is not always easy,” Jana told the publication. 


“We need to be busy with where God has us and being content and joyfully serving Jesus there,” she says, as her parents encourage.


“I’ve found that when I’m having a hard or discouraging day, I try to look for ways to bless or serve someone else,” she adds.


“In turn, it usually blesses and encourages me.”


That sounds nice and all, but Duggar Nation is growing restless amid speculation that Jim Bob won’t let her court (among other theories) …



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Life of Kylie: Watch the Full Trailer!

E! has unveiled the first full-length trailer for Life of Kylie.


And this video takes fans even farther inside the unique universe of its star than the initial teaser that dropped last week.


Despite having been in the public eye since puberty, and despite appearing most Sunday nights on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kylie claims in this preview that you don"t really know her.


What else can she say, really?


If you did know her, you likely would not bother tuning in for her very own reality show.



"When you grow up on camera, everybody feels like they know you, but they don"t," the 19-year-old explains, adding:


"I feel like a lot of people have misconceptions of who I am."


Jenner has been on television since she was nine years old, evolving over the years into a social media superstar and business mogul.


But is the young woman we see posing seductively on Instagram truly Kylie?


"There"s two sides of me. There"s an image that I feel constantly pressured to keep up with, and who I really am around my friends," she also says in this trailer.


"This show is a gift for my fans."


AWWW, a gift! How kind of Kylie!



"Nobody has a perfect life. But I"m not totally innocent because I am keeping up this lifestyle. I can"t do it forever," Kylie admits here.


"This isn"t Keeping Up With the Kardashians. This is like a therapy session."


Life of Kylie will debut at 10/9c on July 6.


Will the teenager be able to right her family"s sinking ship, as ratings for Keeping Up With the Kardashians continue to plummet on Season 13?


Will she finally, officially, once and for all overtake Kim Kardashian as the money-generating face (and body, of course) of her famous family?


We"ll soon find out.


Check out the extended trailer for Life of Kylie now!


Life of kylie watch the full trailer
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Lauren Bushnell and Ben Higgins: Where Did It Go Wrong?!?

Just last week, Ben Higgins quoted Martin Luther King Jr. on Instagram, writing the following:


Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.


He then addressed girlfriend Lauren Bushnell as part of the same caption for the photo below and added:


“@laurenbushnell continues to spread love while some feel it is their responsibility to spread hate, she is a light in this world. Proud of my gal.”



Fast forward to Monday and Higgins confirmed that he and Bushnell had broken up.


“It is with heavy hearts that we announce our decision to go our separate ways,” the former Bachelor and his previously-selected winner said in a joint statement.


Added the ex-love birds:


“We feel fortunate for all the time that we had together, and we will remain friends with much love and respect for one another.


“We wish nothing but the best for each other, and ask for your support and understanding at this time.”


Higgins and Bushnell got together early last year, after the latter beat out JoJo Fletcher to win the former’s season of The Bachelor.


But many fans have been counting down the days to their split ever since The Bachelor finale, considering Higgins also told Fletcher he was in love with her toward the end of his run on ABC.



Rumors of a break-up have been dogging Ben and Lauren for several months, despite their starring role on a Freeform reality show last summer in which they allowed cameras to chronicle their personal lives.


To add drama to a potential second season, Higgins actually called off his wedding to Bushnell on air at one point…


… although he still claimed he wanted to be with her forever. He just needed more time to fully commit.


Yeah. Like we said: this split wasn’t too hard to see coming in some ways.


Still, Higgins blasted an Us Weekly report of his relationship’s demise as “fake news” in February, seeking to end all such chatter with a social media statement that read as follows:


“We have entered into a world where rumors will exist we know that, but just know as @laurenbushnell celebrates her birthday tomorrow I am still extremely lucky to be able to share life with her and be by her side.”



But now the romance is officially over.


What happened?!?


“I know that they have struggled with the show and then kind of continuing on and doing their reality show and kind of where the show stopped and then where life began,” The Bachelor host Chris Harrison told People yesterday of his interpretation.


He added:


“They were fighting through a bunch of stuff. But I don’t know. I’ll reach out to them. I’m very sorry to hear that because I do care about them very much.”


Yet, while Harrison expressed shock upon being told by People that Higgins and Bushnell had split, an insider tells E! News this was easy to see coming.


“No one is that surprised,” this source says. “Lauren was pretty open among her friends that she was struggling. She would talk about how hard it was.”



The E! mole goes on to explain that the pressure of having to seem happy while in the public eye really affected Ben and Lauren.


Another source says that “after the show, Lauren felt like she gave up everything for Ben.”


We can see this; following the end of their reality TV season, Lauren quit her job and moved to Denver for Higgins. She really had no identity except for The Woman Who Won The Bachelor.


Labeling the split as a “mutual” decision, E! concludes:


“They both really wanted to make it work, but Lauren was the only one who was really needing to change a lot of things…


“She felt like she wasn’t being authentic to herself.”



That’s too bad.


But at least Ben and Lauren have a whole lot of company.


Yes, some couples who met on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette have gone on to make babies together (see above).


Most, however, have gone their separate ways.


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