The Shortest Engagements In Bachelor History

The Bachelor is one of the most iconic reality shows of the century. The ABC show and other series of the franchise have been around for years, having premiered in 2002, and — much like the show's host, Chris Harrison — it's only gotten better with time. However, while The Bachelor and The Bachelorette specialize in helping people find true love, that doesn't mean the relationships always last. Sure, there are a few Bachelor success stories, but there are also more than a few failed affairs. In addition to all the drama on the show, once the relationships come out, there's even more drama in real life after filming ends. 

Though The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise are all entertaining, they don't always result in healthy, happy, and lasting relationships. Even when a couple gets engaged at the end of a season, that doesn't always mean they get married... or even stay engaged for very long. After all, in most instances, they've only known each other for about six weeks (via PopSugar), depending on the season, so it's understandable that they wouldn't be 100 percent prepared to spend the rest of their lives together. Still, there are some shockingly short engagements in Bachelor history, and they're pretty interesting to look back on.

In 2018, the Bachelor franchise took things to a whole new level when they went international with the show The Bachelor Winter Games. The series took contestants from all over the world and had them compete for love — and glory — at the winter games. Two of the former contestants from the show Clare Crawley and Benoit Beausejour-Savard definitely had a spark on-screen but didn't leave the show together. However, at the World Tells All live event in February 2018, the two got engaged, and fans were rooting for them from that moment on.

However, only weeks later in early April, the two called it quits. According to People, Crawley said in a statement that she and Beausejour-Savard decided to end their engagement. "We do understand however, having a public engagement on TV kind of changes that. It's with a heavy heart that we have mutually decided to end our relationship," Crawley explained. "We think the world of [each other], and we were both hoping we could make this work." Seven weeks is not a long time to be engaged, but clearly Beausejour-Savard and Crawley knew it wasn't meant to be.

One of the most controversial seasons of The Bachelor was definitely Season 22 in 2018, as it featured one of the most devastating Bachelor breakups in the show's history. The season followed Arie Luynedyk in his quest for love, and there was controversy from the get-go. First of all, Lyynedyk was not who fans thought the show was going to have as the Bachelor, and, with his mature age (he was 36 when the show premiered) and the fact that he wasn't a top 3 winner of the previous season of The Bachelorette, it was kind of awkward. But what was more awkward was what happened after the show ended.

On the finale, Luyendyk proposed to contestant Becca Kufrin, and the two seemed super happy and in love. However, during a now-infamous scene which aired on national television, Luyendyk broke up with Kufrin after two months of being engaged and then proposed to his runner-up, Lauren Burnham, as reported by People. It was pretty uncomfortable, but, as the two were only engaged for two months, it definitely could have been worse.

As controversial as Arie Luynedyk's season of The Bachelor was, he wasn't the first contestant to have an awkward breakup on national television. In fact, he wasn't even the first to dump one contestant for another. That honor falls on none other than Jason Mesnick from Season 13 of The Bachelor. During his time as the Bachelor, fans fells in love with Mesnick, a single dad who just wanted to find love. On the season finale, Mesnick had to choose between Melissa Rycroft and Molly Malaney (via Life & Style). Eventually, he went with Rycroft... but not for long.

Shortly after Mesnick and Rycroft got engaged, they appeared on the After the Final Rose live special, where Mesnick dumped Rycroft on live television and asked Malaney for a second chance. It was seriously dramatic and though everyone is now happy with the way things turned out, it was one of the shortest engagements in Bachelor history — and the most traumatic ending ever. Though fans really hated Mesnick at the time, it seems most have forgotten what went down all those years ago.

On Season 2 of The Bachelor, history was made. For the first time, the season ended with a proposal when Aaron Buerge popped the question to Helene Eksterowicz, according to Entertainment Tonight. The whole thing seemed like a fairytale ending at first, but that was far from the truth, and their happy ending didn't last long at all. In fact, it ended sooner than anyone had originally thought.

Just four months after the season finale, the pair appeared on a special, The Bachelor: Aaron and Helene Tell All, to explain what had happened between them. While it had appeared as though the two broke up four months after the engagement, on the special, Eksterowicz alleged that Buerge dumped her at a Starbucks only five weeks after they got engaged. "It felt like a bomb dropped," she said, according to Entertainment Weekly. "I said, 'I feel very deceived by you. You've told me every single day that you love me, and now this is it?"' 

The Bachelor is great at producing spin-off shows featuring its most popular cast members from previous seasons. Case in point: Bachelor in Paradise has seen a lot of engagements over the years. However, that doesn't mean every engagement has lasted. For instance, Season 3's Lace Morris and Grant Kemp were only engaged for about five months before they ended their relationship. And while it's sad they didn't stay together, it was probably for the best. 

In an interview with Us Weekly, Morris explained that she was definitely hurt when the relationship came to an end, but she thought they did the right thing. "I don't know," she said. "Grant and I just both realized some differences, and we had enough respect to end it when we did instead of pulling it along longer than we needed to. But it just wasn't working." Sadly, Morris and Kemp weren't mean to be, but at least they lasted longer than a lot of other couples.

Emily Maynard definitely had her fair share of drama during her time with The Bachelor franchise. But when she became the Bachelorette in 2012, fans thought she had found her prince charming in Jef Holm. The two got engaged at the end of Maynard's season, but their engagement lasted only five months.

"As you know, at first I wasn't sure that I should even be The Bachelorette, but I am a hopeless romantic and I do believe in the show," Maynard said in a statement to People. "I have no regrets because I did find love and shared an incredible journey with a really special person — and you know what, we tried our best because the love between us was so real." While Maynard and Holm weren't meant to be, the Bachelor alum did end up finding her happily ever after, as she later married and expanded her family.

In 2010, Brad Womack went on to be the Bachelor for the second time, and it appeared as though he had finally found his future wife when he popped the question to Emily Maynard. However, the pair had quite a rocky relationship, and they broke up and got back together several times before the After the Final Rose special aired, according to Entertainment Tonight.

But then, just six months after they got engaged, Maynard and Womack ended things. In her tell-all book, I Said Yes, Maynard revealed that she never really had chemistry with Womack. "I liked him," she wrote, according to HuffPost. "He was warm, kind, sweet, a gentleman. I admired the same qualities now as I had when we first started getting to know each other. Yet, he wasn't as funny as I wanted him to be and even though we had a great time together, he always seemed a big uptight." Clearly, the two weren't a match made in heaven, and it makes sense this Bachelor engagement was so short.

On Season 3 of Bachelor in Paradise, there were a lot of butterflies and quite a few happy endings. Or so it seemed. Though Amanda Stanton and Josh Murray got engaged at the end of the season, they ended things just six months later, according to Entertainment Tonight.

Then, in 2019, over two years after the split, Stanton opened up about why she called it quits on her relationship. On The Viall Files podcast with Nick Viall, who has an interesting past himself, Stanton revealed Murray was a little controlling. "If he doesn't turn into your prince, stop kissing him. Josh's behavior was very frog like. There were control issues, more than a few untruths told, plus other red flags along the way." He continued reading, "Not to mention Andi Dorfman even wrote a book about his jealous, self-serving ways. And what did I do? I kept kissing him hoping he'd turn into a prince." It appears as though Stanton did what was best for her, and that's what matters.

On Season 19 of The Bachelor, Chris Soules gave his final rose to Whitney Bischoff, and the two became engaged. At first, everything seemed just peachy, and Bischoff even cheered Soules on while he competed on Dancing With the Stars after The Bachelor, as E! News reported. But it wasn't meant to last, and, almost six months after they got engaged, Soules, who is one of several Bachelors with disturbing secrets, and Bischoff ended their relationship.

"Whitney Bischoff and Chris Soules have mutually and amicably decided to end their engagement," the pair told E! News in a statement. "They part with nothing but respect and admiration for one another and will continue to be supportive friends. They wish to thank everyone who has supported them through this journey." The news of their split was definitely a shock to fans of The Bachelor franchise, as just six days before the news broke that they had called it off, they had posted photos together on social media. Whatever happened, after six months, they were done.

On Season 4 of The Bachelorette, Bachelorette DeAnna Pappas thought she had found the one when she got engaged to contestant Jesse Csincsak at the end of the season in 2008. The pair were even planning a wedding for May 2009, according to Entertainment Tonight. However, that didn't happen as they called things off after they'd been together for six months.

According to People, Csincsak posted a video in which he explained what had happened between him and Pappas. "It's our responsibility to tell you we're not together anymore," he reportedly said. Csincsak added that Pappas had ended things, and it just wasn't going to work out. "She's a great person but she wasn't willing to try anymore ... That's a lot to swallow no matter who you are when you're in love and you put yourself out there."

After Arie Luyendyk's season of The Bachelor, things definitely cooled down in terms of drama. Well, until Hannah Brown's season of The Bachelorette, when the on-screen drama and the off-screen drama were both almost too much to handle. As Brown started to fall in love with contestant Jed Wyatt, viewers learned that Wyatt had a girlfriend back home while he was filming The Bachelorette. So, when Brown and Wyatt got engaged, it didn't last long.

During the live finale, Brown faced Wyatt and told him exactly how she felt. "It's so messed up," she said, as reported by Us Weekly in July 2019. "It's just sad. But I appreciate your apology and I know that it's hurt me a lot, but I know that this has not been easy for you and your family. I know critics can be hard. I have some too. What you did was not right and not good, but I did fall in love with you." Brown didn't end up with someone from her season of The Bachelorette, and that might've been for the best.

On most seasons of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, there is a fairly obvious "villain" among the contestants. While the villain might not exactly be evil, they usually stir up quite a bit of drama with the other contestants and usually never end up winning. However, that wasn't the case with Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi from Season 14 of The Bachelor. The two got engaged at the end of the season, but soon things got ugly and they ended their engagement after six months.

Their relationship was so fraught with tension that when Pavelka accused Girardi of cheating, it made headlines. An inside source told Us Weekly that Girardi's alleged infidelity was the reason the relationship ultimately ended. "He has no tolerance for infidelity," the source said. "At first he gave her the benefit of the doubt, but soon realized it was true. He realized he couldn't be blinded by love anymore." Those two were definitely not meant to be.

Another dramatic breakup from The Bachelor franchise turned out to be even more complicated than it first appeared. On Season 10 of The Bachelorette, Andi Dorfman ended the season by getting engaged to Josh Murray, and fans really thought they could make it last. However, seven months after they got engaged, they split up, and it wasn't until Dorfman promoted her book It's Not Okay that she revealed the relationship had a lot of issues.

While she was on The Bachelorette with Murray, Dorfman also got intimate with another contestant, Nick Viall. Apparently, Murray wasn't okay with that. "That one sexual escapade would become a power play used by my fiancé to justify his mistrust in me," she said, according to Us Weekly. "It would be an excuse to call me a w***e. And it would eventually lead to the demise of my engagement." That doesn't sound great, and it probably was for the best that the two ended their engagement.

During Season 6 of the always-dramatic Bachelor in Paradise, history was made when contestant Demi Burnett revealed that she had been in a relationship with a woman prior to appearing on the show. Viewers were shocked when Burnett's past girlfriend, Kristian Haggerty, showed up to Paradise and the two rekindled their relationship (via People). Then, on the season finale of BiP, the two got engaged, and it seemed that they were super happy and in love. However, after the season ended and real life set in, the two stopped posting so much about each other on social media. In October 2019, they announced their split, just three months after they got engaged. 

In their social media posts announcing their breakup, both Burnett and Haggerty made it clear that their relationship was over. "With a heavy heart full of love for one another we have decided it is best for us to take a step back from our relationship," they wrote on Instagram. "We ultimately want what is best for us in the long run and for us right now, that means being apart and growing individually." Sadly, their engagement wasn't meant to be.