Biggest Bachelor Nation Moments and Takeaways of 2024

More than two decades after The Bachelor premiered, the franchise still never fails to deliver plenty of headlines.

The year began with 5.22 million fans tuning in to see The Golden Bachelor stars Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist exchange vows live on ABC on January 4, with more than 50 Bachelor and Bachelorette alums in attendance. Three months later, they called it quits — but they weren’t the only ones.

Also in January, news broke that season 13 Bachelorette couple Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo had filed for divorce after four years of marriage. Things between the pair quickly got messy, with Bryan seeking large amounts of spousal support and Rachel claiming she found out he took legal action via text.

It wasn’t all wilted roses in 2024, however. Season 28 Bachelor Joey Graziadei won the hearts of Bachelor Nation and now-fiancée Kelsey Anderson. The proof was in the numbers as Joey’s season was one of the most-watched in years (outside of Gerry’s season) and Joey and Kelsey both gained large Instagram followings (Joey is just shy of 1 million and Kelsey hovers around 827,000) just as it seemed like the reality show wasn’t breeding influencers like it used to.

OG Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos also got engaged in 2024, accepting a ring from Chock Chapple during the November finale. It’s still early for the duo, but all signs point to a long engagement (in comparison to Theresa and Gerry) and plans to make it work.

Keep scrolling for more of the biggest Bachelor Nation moments of the year — plus, what they could mean for the future of the franchise:

Gerry and Theresa’s Wedding, Divorce and Revelations
Gerry and Theresa announced their breakup on Good Morning America in April. At the time, distance was mostly cited as the cause for their divorce as they struggled to agree on where to live despite plans to relocate to Charleston. Fans later learned in December that Gerry had been diagnosed with an incurable cancer shortly after the wedding, which he told People “had a huge bearing on my decisions and I think probably Theresa’s as well.” Theresa denied that she broke up with Gerry because he was sick, but acknowledged that his decision not to leave Indiana affected their marriage.

Takeaway: After getting invested in the senior franchise, some fans were quick to write it off because of Gerry and Theresa’s whirlwind divorce. While their love story still came to an early end, learning about Gerry’s health battle, which began weeks into the marriage and only months after they met on the show, changed things for Us.

Joey and Kelsey’s Love Story
While runner-up Daisy Kent appeared to be the front-runner for Joey’s heart, there’s now no denying that we all fell for some classic editing tricks as Joey and Kelsey got engaged during the March finale and are still going strong.

Takeaway: Love isn’t completely dead in Bachelor Nation! In addition to giving fans something solid to root for, Joey and Kelsey made it through his stint on Dancing With the Stars with a mirrorball trophy and their relationship intact despite the dancing competition often coinciding with Bachelor Nation couples calling it quits. Kelsey’s open communication with fans — a.k.a asking them to stop trying to make it seem like something weird was happening between Joey and his married partner, Jenna Johnson — definitely helped too.

Bonus takeaway: It’s time to take a closer look at the numbers in 2025. Gerry and Joey both proved that the franchise is still popular — or at least can be — but the ratings for Jenn Tran’s season of The Bachelorette and Joan’s season of The Golden Bachelorette didn’t quite compare. Historically, the male-lead seasons bring in more fans, so all signs from this year prove that the franchise isn’t going anywhere.

Rachel and Bryan’s Messy Breakup
Bryan filed for divorce on January 2, citing their date of separation as December 31, 2023. He later revealed that the pair had been sleeping in separate rooms for months and were in counseling. Rachel, for her part, opted to stay quiet — at least at first. During an appearance on The View in December, she noted she saw “signs” that things might not work out between them even before they wed. “But as women, we’re fixers and we think that we can figure it out. They’re a challenge to us!” she said. “But eventually I saw it more. I would say within two years, and we were married for four and a half.”

Takeaway: Everything is not what it seems … unless it is? During their relationship, Rachel said several times that the lack of Instagram posts shared by the twosome wasn’t a sign of trouble. Bryan basically said the opposite in his tell-all interview in July. “We didn’t spend enough time with each other. I mean, in my estimation, we saw what the other person was doing in the relationship, mainly on Instagram, although we lived in the same house,” he claimed.

Bonus takeaway: Get another job? We didn’t say it, the judge did! Bryan — who claimed his annual income is $16,000 after he was forced to relocate for Rachel’s career — scored a major legal win over the summer when a judge ordered Rachel to pay the chiropractor over $13,200 a month in temporary spousal support. The court also ruled that the support should end in March 2026, advising Bryan to pursue more work and not rely on Rachel. The court battle is set to rage on into 2025.

Jenn’s Journey
Jenn Tran made history as the first-ever Asian lead in the franchise, but wasn’t necessarily given a fair chance by some fans who were rooting for Daisy or Joey’s other fan-favorite Maria Georgas to get the gig. The season was soured again when her winner, Devin Strader, broke up with her shortly after production wrapped despite accepting a proposal from Jenn (never forget, she was the one to propose to him!) Things started looking up for Jenn when she landed a last-minute spot on DWTS (and a position on Us’ Reality Stars of the Year list) and a new love interest in dance partner Sasha Farber.

Takeaway: Let people show their own true colors. It was heartbreaking to watch Jenn cry over a less-than-remorseful Devin at After the Final Rose — especially watching the twosome relive their proposal live in front of a studio audience. Devin, feeling like he was made out to be the bad boy of Bachelor Nation, subsequently opted to release hundreds of his and Jenn’s private text messages to prove … well, we still don’t know what he was trying to convince Us of, tbh. In the end, he looked worse and Jenn cha-cha’d her way to 600,000 Instagram followers, several more weeks of TV time on DWTS and a showmance-turned-romance with Sasha.

No ‘BiP’
Outside of 2020 (because of Covid-19), 2024 was the first year the beaches of Mexico were closed since Bachelor in Paradise debuted in 2014. While several crossover duos still formed — remember when Christina Mandrell and Brayden Bowers got engaged during the aforementioned Golden Wedding? — this break allowed Us to get excited when the spinoff does return in 2025 as ABC already confirmed the show will be back.

Takeaway: We miss it! Yes, Love Island USA season 6 was one of the best seasons of summer TV in history, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get invested in BiP, too. The back-and-forth of Susie Evans and Justin Glaze’s romance would have carried the season alone. Plus, we’ve still got several single stars from Joey’s season who we are begging to have back on our TV screens.

Joan and Chock Get Engaged

Two-time Us Weekly cover star Joan accepted a Neil Lane sparkler from Chock during the November finale, giving hope that the Golden franchise could create happy endings after all. With the twosome spending the holidays as a blended family and looking to split their time between mutual location NYC, Joan’s house in Maryland and Chock’s homebase in Kansas, they might be the modern fairytale the show needs to create chatter for any Golden seasons in 2025.

Takeaway: Could The Golden Bachelorette revive the idea that the female leads have more success than the male leads? Just like the OG Bachelorette Trista Sutter back in 2003, Joan could be the first Golden Bachelorette to wed. And in the heyday of the franchise, there was a run of female leads who appeared to have cracked the code with season 11’s Kaitlyn Bristowe, season 12’s JoJo Fletcher, season 13’s Rachel and season 14’s Becca Kufrin all having long-term relationships outside of the show. Yes, we know only JoJo is still with her final rose winner (shout-out Jordan Rodgers!), but it was one of the more successful streaks in franchise history.

The Restraining Orders
Us can’t ignore that there were three different legal cases against contestants unearthed across two seasons in 2024. Bachelorette season 21 Devin’s ex had filed a restraining order against him in 2017, The Golden Bachelorette’s Gil Ramirez was accused of stalking an ex and The Golden Bachelorette runner-up Guy Gansert’s ex-wife had once taken legal action against him, later voluntarily dismissing her request for a protective order.

Takeaway: All three situations are different, but it certainly feels like the current setup for background checks needs to be reevaluated to protect the leads.

Grant Ellis Is Named the New Bachelor
ABC named Grant, one of Jenn’s contestants, the season 29 lead shortly after his week six elimination. While there’s no denying Grant has got the looks to lead a season, some fans were confused by the franchise making the announcement when they did. This isn’t the first time this has happened, however, with season 26 star Clayton Echard seemingly being plucked out of nowhere in the middle of Michelle Young’s season. While season 27 Zach Shallcrosss was announced in a more traditional manner (AFR), viewers had deemed him boring before even watching a second of the season. If you ask Us, both Clayton and Zach delivered wildly entertaining seasons — not to mention Zach and winner Kaity Bigger are still together — but there’s no denying that season 28 lead Joey was the most popular lead in a long time.

Takeaway: The jury is obviously still out, but based on the trailer, Grant’s season could break the random Bachelor pick curse and continue the momentum Joey brought?! Stay tuned for the 2025 Bachelor Nation recap to find out.