credit: ABC
Rachel Kirkconnell
Although Matt chose not to propose to Rachel during the finale, which aired in March 2021, they left the show as a couple. The two had secretly separated, however, in February 2021, after she was accused of being racist and pictures of her at a pre-war themed plantation party at the college surfaced. Rachel apologized for her actions twice via Instagram before sitting down with Matt and the guest host Emmanuel Acho during the After the final rose.
“When he first called me to break things off, my initial reaction was that I was very confused. I was very dazzled,” Rachel said on the special. “But after that initial reaction wore off, I thought about, you know, how strong I think our relationship is. So to end things, he must have been very, very hurt by everything. It was hard because I lost the love of my life.”
After being spotted together in April 2021, Matt and Rachel confirmed in May that they were giving their romance another shot. The duo exclusively said us in July 2023 that they are used to speculation for breaking up again.
“I think we’ve been through so much at this point that nothing really stops 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, I understand where people are coming from,” Rachel said.
Matt, for his part, admitted that even his mother tends to worry about the state of their relationship.
“I’ll come home and if Rachel’s not with me, my mom’s like, ‘What’s up?’ Where is Rachel?” he said us. “I’m like, ‘She had to go home to see her family!’ She has her mom and her dad and her brother and sister (in Atlanta).”
