The Bachelor star Matt James has serious regrets about his TV mistake and recently apologized to his girlfriend Rachael Kirkconnell for his behavior.
While Rachael is away living it up at New York Fashion week, Matt had some time to himself and apparently couldn’t resist a certain temptation.
He took to his Instagram story to make a confession to Rachael.
“I’m sorry @rachaelkirkconnell,” he wrote on his post, according to E! News.
In the video, he explained, “I told Rachael I was gonna wait and start Mare of Easttown till she got out here. And then I made the mistake—I was all, ‘Oh, I’m just gonna watch 15 minutes, I’m just gonna watch 30 minutes,’ last night.”
As anyone with a streaming platform subscription knows, that’s not how it ended up going down.
He admitted, “I went to bed at 5 a.m. I watched the entire show. And I can say that I had no idea—I had zero idea—it was gonna be who it was. I’ve never been that unsure of who I thought was gonna be the person. But now I need a new show.”
Rachael has yet to respond but after everything else they’ve been through, it’s unlikely that this will be a deal-breaker.
Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell’s last TV appearance
Some members of Bachelor Nation probably had hoped that Matt’s apology had to do with what went down during the After The Final Rose special.
During the Bachelor finale special, Rachael had some explaining to do. Racially insensitive pictures and social media likes had surfaced from Rachael Kirkconnell’s social media as Matt James’s season was airing.
Rachael was Matt’s final pick, but behind the scenes, rumors had surfaced that Matt and Rachael had broken up due to Rachael’s Antebellum-themed pictures on social media.
When they appeared on After The Final Rose, Rachael attempted to apologize for her past and swore she would do better but Matt told her it wasn’t his responsibility to educate her and that they couldn’t be together.
However, a different narrative may have been going on behind the scenes.
Emmanuel Acho, the host of After The Final Rose, admitted that Rachael and Matt were much more affectionate behind the scenes than they were on camera.
“I’m speaking as a Black man. It would have been impossible for him to leave the stage with her without getting crucified, but what people did not see after the cameras cut [is] they left arm over arm. They walked off the stage,” Emmanuel revealed on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s podcast Off The Vine.
“As soon as they left, it was his arm over hers. There was still so much affection,” Emmanuel added.
Matt and Rachael are happily together now
Regardless of what the real story behind the After The Final Rose special is, Matt and Rachael are now happily together.
Rachael even claims that they’re better now than they’ve ever been.
The pair had attempted to get back together after the show to no avail.
Matt claims that it wasn’t until Rachael gave him an ultimatum about his willingness to commit that he was ready to go all-in.
They have been going strong since and have even talked about buying a new place together in Miami.
Bachelor in Paradise airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.