A new Bachelor crossover couple has made its debut! Bachelor in Paradise alums Serene Russell and Brendan Morais, who respectively appeared on seasons 8 and 7 of the tropical spinoff, surprised fans by confirming their relationship with a heartwarming social media post.
Serene, 29, shared a carousel of loved-up photos highlighting sweet moments from her relationship with Brendan, 35, including kisses, hand-holding, and dinner dates on Wednesday, March 19. She tagged his Instagram handle and added a white heart emoji in the caption, offering no further details about their relationship.
Serene and Brendan never appeared in the same season during the Bachelor Nation franchise. Brendan made his debut on Tayshia Adams’ season of The Bachelorette in 2020. After falling short of her final rose, he went on to appear on season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise in 2021.
Meanwhile, Serene was eliminated before hometown dates on Clayton Echard’s season of The Bachelor in 2022. She had a second chance at love on Bachelor in Paradise season 8, which aired on ABC that summer.
Bachelor Nation clearly shipped the new couple, sharing their messages of support in the comment section.
“So happy for you Serene!!” Bachelor franchise host, Jesse Palmer, replied under the post. Bachelor in Paradise alum Abigail Heringer, wrote, “Happy looks good on ya.”
“My people,” BiP season 7 star Ivan Hall added.
Both Serena and Brendan had been unlucky in finding love within the franchise until this point. Serena was most recently linked to her ex-fiancé, Brandon Jones, whom she met on season 8 of Bachelor in Paradise. The pair got engaged at the end of filming, but they split less than one year later.
“After many months, today we have ultimately decided to end our engagement,” the exes said in a joint statement in May 2023. “We have tried to work privately on our relationship which has been incredibly challenging in the public eye. This has been immensely hard to accept and painful, as there is a lot of love between the two of us. We are deeply hurting and can only ask that there be no hate. The best path for us at this time is to try and move forward and heal from this as individuals.”
Serene discussed the split for the first time during an October 2023 interview with Kaitlyn Bristowe, and specifically mentioned a video, that had previously made its rounds on social media, that showed Brandon seemingly talking to other women during a night out. The Bachelor alum admitted that the footage caused “irreparable damage” in the pair’s relationship.
In addition to the video in question, Serene claimed that she found out Brandon wasn’t faithful after a girl sent her an Instagram DM. The Bachelor alum explained that she didn’t see the message, so the unidentified woman reached out to another Bachelor Nation star, who later relayed the information to Serene.
Brandon has vehemently denied being unfaithful to Serene and shared his “truth” in an Instagram Story posted later that month.
“To be transparent, before leaving for Texas, my partner and I made the difficult choice to go our separate ways. As this was a public relationship, we both decided to hold off on sharing the news until we mutually felt it was time, so we [just] shared the names with family and friends,” he wrote. “Where I have taken fault and responsibility, is a conversation we shared the day before I left speaking on doing long distance. Unfortunately, during this time of private separation, coming back from Austin, a video came to light, that while harmless, made my ex-partner upset.”
As for Brendan, he was last known to be dating Pieper James following a controversial stint on Bachelor in Paradise. The pair admitted they went on BiP to further a romance that started off camera.
Although the pair left the beach together, Pieper seemingly confirmed they split in October 2023 after two years of dating with a shady TikTok seemingly directed to her ex.
“When they say ‘go to hell’ but I’m still recovering from the whiplash my last relationship caused me,” she captioned the video as she updated her followers about her love life while dancing to Lonestar’s 2001 hit, “I’m Already There.”
