“Bachelorette” Jenn Tran on identity, family and the search for love
Jenn Tran, the first Asian-American lead actress on the reality series “The Bachelorette,” talks about her identity and the search for a relationship.
Is Jenn Tran engaged? Is she single?
The finale of Bachelorette revealed all nearly two months after her season premiered, and how Jenn’s search for love ended was uglier than even Bachelor Nation’s greatest online sleuths could have ever imagined.
Fans have been dying to know why Jenn, the show’s first Asian-American lead, tells one of her recent suitors, “I can’t let you propose to me.” As it turns out, the 26-year-old aspiring medical assistant ended her relationship with Marcus Shoberg, 32, because he refused to show Jenn his love because he “wasn’t giving you what you needed.”
The path was clear for Jenn to ride off into the sunset with 28-year-old Devin Strader. She was ready to take the reins and propose to the Houston freight company owner.
Then a record scratch.
Host Jesse Palmer interrupts the program during the live portion of the show to reveal that not everything is as it seems.
Trying to understand what really happened, a sobbing Jenn bravely appeared on stage and explained that although she had gotten engaged to her last husband in Hawaii, they were no longer together.
Jenn says Devin ended their engagement in a 15-minute phone call
According to Jenn, Devin broke off the engagement sometime in August during the season’s airing in a 15-minute phone call.
“He basically said he didn’t love me anymore and didn’t feel the same way anymore,” she said, adding that “he denied ever being in love.” As her mother cried in the audience, Jenn said Devin refused to go to couples counseling and “didn’t want to fight for the relationship anymore.”
Amid scattered applause and boos, Devin joined Jenn and Jesse on stage to explain his side of the story: “I disappointed you, but everything I felt for you was real.” Devin said he had “a lot of doubts” after the engagement and during the two-month engagement period.
However, he claimed he had been honest with Jenn the whole time. When Jenn challenged this, he admitted, “I’m sorry I told you too late.”
Who is Grant Ellis? What you should know about the next “Bachelor” from Jenn’s season
For 10 episodes, Jenn whittled her cast down from 25 men (plus an ex who appeared out of nowhere mid-season) to just two: Marcus and Devin.
The outcome of Jenn’s reality TV journey was revealed after both men met Jenn’s family, who were mostly concerned about them. Jenn’s mother Trinh, her aunt Lylan and her brother James questioned Marcus and Devin about their relationships with Jenn, with Trinh expressing skepticism about whether her daughter would have enough time to fall in love and get engaged.
James was “not particularly happy,” he told Jesse during the live broadcast, alerting fans that Jenn’s adventure did not have a happy ending. Finalists Jeremy Simon and Jonathon Johnson Soliz were also in the studio audience to “support” Jenn, Marcus and Devin, adding to the somber mood.
Members of Bachelor Nation looking forward to another Bachelorette’s journey won’t have to wait long; Joan Vassos’ first season of the “Golden Bachelorette” premieres on September 18. Grant Ellis, who was sent home by Jenn in Episode 6, is set to film his next “Bachelor” season in the coming months.
