As “Bachelor” viewers still try to recover from what actually turned out to be the most dramatic rose ceremony ever, Luyendyk Jr. has been cast as one of the biggest villains in the show’s history.
And that’s saying something if you remember Brad Womack from Season 11. (Womack attracted the wrath of “Bachelor Nation” after choosing not to propose to either finalist.)
But Luyendyk Jr., 36, proposed to 27-year-old publicist Becca Kufrin before breaking up with her to get back together with the runner-up, Lauren Burnham, a 25-year-old tech salesperson.
Now, it’s not unheard of for a “Bachelor” to make a U-turn and get back together with the woman he jilted (we are looking at you Jason Mesnick). But viewers witnessed Luyendyk Jr. and Kufrin’s entire “private” breakup, when it was just the two of them (and an ABC camera crew).
It was excruciating and exactly the type of train wreck that reality TV viewers love.
Suffice it to say, people are mad.
Like, threatening-Luyendyk Jr.-on-social-media mad. Raising-money-in-support-of-Kufrin mad.
Kufrin lives in Minnesota and one of the state’s representatives, Drew Christensen, offered to draft “a bill banning Arie from Minnesota” if he got 1,000 retweets of his offer.
Naturally, he did.
Why are people taking it so personally, when even Kufrin has forgiven him?
Related: Becca Kufrin says Arie Luyendyk Jr. didn’t mean to break her heart
Probably because it feels personal.
Here are five reasons why the race car driver is every man who ever broke your heart:
He may have let his family choose
Of course you want your significant other to gel with your family, but Luyendyk Jr. may have let his family have too much say.
After taking the two women to Peru to meet his family, their differences couldn’t have been more obvious.
Burnham came off as more shy and reserved (at the very least she was edited that way), while Kufrin was super confident.
So much so, she handled it well when the family kept asking her about her feelings — not so much about Luyendyk Jr., but the fact that Burnham was in the picture.
Which is why it was a bit of a shock when they told Luyendyk Jr. they thought Kufrin would be better for his “future.”
He tried to soft pedal the break up
No one expected him to walk in the room with a sign reading, “We’re done.” But when Luyendyk Jr. met up with Kufrin for their “talk,” he was all, “How was your trip to Vegas?” and chatting about her new tattoo.
Men don’t like confrontation. It’s been that way since the beginning of time. (See Adam eating the apple rather than fighting with Eve.)
He wouldn’t leave after
After breaking Kufrin’s heart by telling her he wanted out of their relationship to pursue things with Burnham, Kufrin just wanted some time to herself.
But despite her repeated pleas for him to go, Luyendyk Jr. wouldn’t leave.
At one point he even said, “I’m gonna go.”
But he stayed.
Way. Too. Long.
Viewers couldn’t tell if he had more to say or if he just wanted Kufrin to say something to make him feel better.
Either way, it was incredibly awkward and difficult to watch.
He knows he was wrong but…
As Selena sings, the heart wants what it wants.
And while Luyendyk Jr. said on the “After the Final Rose” special that he understands why people are so angry, he, of course, had to do what was “right for him.”
After all, think of the pressure.
“I think the pressure of this, the pressure of being on ‘The Bachelor,’ knowing there’s a timeline and needing to make that decision on that day,” he said of why he popped the question to Kufrin. “I should not have proposed.”
He moved on real quick
Speaking of time, it’s all relative in “The Bachelor” universe as people go from hello to engaged in a nanosecond.
So, it kind of makes sense that Luyendyk Jr. went from engaged to Kufrin in a matter of weeks, to broken up weeks later, to engaged to Burnham (he proposed on the special).
Burnham revealed that he had contacted her on New Year’s Eve — something Kufrin thought he was doing to get closure — and that’s what opened the door to their reunion.
But don’t feel too bad for Kufrin.
She’s moved on as the next “Bachelorette.”
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