The Bachelor franchise went nearly 20 years before an official divorce.
There are several pairings still going strong from The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise, but the majority of the duos who meet on the reality TV shows go their separate ways before they walk down the aisle. And while some consider Marcus Grodd and Lacy Faddoul the first Bachelor Nation divorce (more on them later), Krystal Nielson and Chris Randone made history in February 2020 as the first duo to legally end their marriage.
Krystal and Chris met while filming season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise during the summer of 2018. After getting engaged during the finale, they returned to Mexico to tie the knot in front of ABC cameras in June 2019. After less than a year of marriage, they announced their separation.
“I think one of the biggest issues was me going from one show to the next, with really no time to process,” Chris admitted to Us Weekly in August 2020. “Because I think after I got eliminated from [Becca Kufrin’s] season [of The Bachelorette], it was only a couple of weeks where I was back on another show. But I traveled back, my sister had a baby, and then I literally was back on a plane to Mexico.”
He added, “I couldn’t process it or focus on that or just be able to address it because I had a relationship [and] I was engaged and then that turned into a marriage. And the entire time I abandoned myself, which I think led to just some issues within me as well.”
Chris added that the goal of their separation was to “allow us to focus on ourselves and continue to grow and get better,” but Krystal ultimately pulled the plug for good on their relationship.
Several months after Krystal and Chris’ split made headlines, Bachelorette season 7 couple Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum revealed in October 2020 they had quietly separated after nearly eight years of marriage. Since then, a few others have ended their respective marriages.
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