The all popular ABC reality TV show “The Bachelor” had a shocking finale with an up-in-the-air relationship and very clearly unscripted bits by the lead contestant Peter’s family. After the Final Rose is a segment that airs after the final episode of the season, oscillating between live bits and pre-recorded moments.
Perhaps most of us are deep into the series for the drama, and both ABC and the contestants are simply delivering what the audience wants. During After the Final Rose, the episode aired after the final rose ceremony, the drama unfolded, and fans of the show went wild.
Contestant Peter Weber, who got engaged to Hannah Ann Sluss on the conclusion of the season, called off his engagement a month later and attempted to begin a relationship with the runner up, Madison Prewett.
Pre-taped footage of Weber’s post-proposal breakup kicked off the episode, and it followed his pursuit of Prewett in the weeks following. Pre-recorded footage of Weber struggling over his feelings with Prewett also aired, despite his engagement and feelings for Sluss.
Though Weber struggled with his feelings for Sluss, essentially leading her on and badly wounding her on national television, Weber’s mother greatly sides with Sluss. This was also broadcasted on live T.V. in the After the Final Rose episode.
The breakup between Sluss and Weber was broadcasted during the episode. Standing backstage, live, Sluss watched. Barbara Weber, Peter’s mom, applauded and lauded Ms. Sluss when the breakup footage concluded.
In the penultimate episode, Prewett actually self-eliminated from the competition as she felt she had very different feelings toward intimacy and sex in part due to her religion, which caused a divergence in her relationship with Weber.
Perhaps it was Weber’s fault, then, that though he still had feelings for Sluss, Prewett had been his first choice for a relationship, and despite differences in ideology and her dramatic departure, he hadn’t lost feelings for her.
That being said, it wasn’t fair, then, for Weber to decide to pursue Sluss in Prewett’s place, inherently dragging her along. On After the Final Rose, Sluss faced Weber for the first time since their breakup, and her words stung him.
“So really, looking back on it, our engagement involved three women: Me, you still being in love with Madison and proposing to me, and you needing closure with Hannah Brown (his ex-girlfriend, previous bachelorette),” she said. “Word of advice—if you want to be with a woman, you need to become a real man.”
After Sluss’ exit, the host introduced Prewett, who had a sappy reunion with Weber, before answering questions about their future, one that seemed mutually unknown. Nice reunion aside, when Weber’s mother weighed in about her feelings for Prewett, she essentially said the family disapproved of Weber’s feelings for Prewett.
Though seeking to broadcast closure, this final episode only further confused audiences. Though thorny, it appears as though Weber remains single for the moment, in a bit of a love triangle with various contestants from his season of the show.
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