Credit: ABC
Rachael Kirkconnell
While Matt opted not to propose to Rachael during the finale, which aired in March 2021, they left the show as a couple. The twosome had secretly split, however, in February 2021 after she was accused of being racist and photos of her at an antebellum-themed party on a plantation in college resurfaced. Rachael apologized for her actions twice via Instagram before sitting down with Matt and guest host Emmanuel Acho during After the Final Rose.
“When he first called me to end things, my initial reaction was I was very confused. I was very blindsided,” Rachael said on the special. “But once that initial reaction went away, I thought about, you know, how strong I thought our relationship was. So for him to end things, like, he must have been very, very hurt by everything. It was hard, because I lost the love of my life.”
After they were spotted together in April 2021, Matt and Rachael confirmed that May that they were giving their romance another shot. The duo exclusively told Us in July 2023 that they are used to speculation about them breaking up again.
“I think that we’ve been through so much stuff at this point that nothing really phases us. I get it — because we’re together so much so whenever our schedules don’t line up or whenever we have our own things going on, I get where people come from,” Rachael said.
Matt, for his part, admitted that even his mom is prone to worrying about their relationship status.
“I’ll come home and if Rachael’s not with me, my mom’s like, ‘What’s wrong? Where’s Rachael?’” he told Us. “I’m like, ‘She had to go home to see her family!’ She has her mom and her dad and brother and sister [in Atlanta].”