Remember Trista and Ryan, the famous couple who met on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” reality show? Trista Rehn had been dumped by Alex Michel in the final rose ceremony on the first season of “The Bachelor” in 2003. Since the fans sympathised with Trista and liked her so much, ABC offered Trista the chance to turn the tables and star in “The Bachelorette” and become the one doing the dumping.
History is repeating itself again with the latest woman to star in this season’s “The Bachelorette”, and this time it is an attractive 26-year-old Greek-American from Georgia named DeAnna Pappas. DeAnna is a real estate agent who comes across as assertive, independent and adventurous. DeAnna appeared on a previous season of “The Bachelor” and was heartbroken at the final rose ceremony when bachelor Brad did not pick her, and surprisingly, did not pick the other finalist either.
Neither DeAnna nor the fans could understand why Brad was not able to commit to a relationship with DeAnna, who he admittedly had feelings for. On the “After the Final Rose” show, Brad told DeAnna: “I think you of all people deserve the kind of guy that’s gonna look you in the eye and tell you everything you told me — that you’re so in love with me, that he wants you to have his children… I just think you’re so deserving of this guy that… 100% knows that this is [for] a lifetime.”
During the summer of 2008, everyone got to watch as DeAnna narrowed down her selection of single men from week to week. DeAnna shared how she lost her mother at an early age, and was very close with her family. She wanted to find someone who felt that family was important, would be committed to their relationship and be able to share his feelings with her.
The obvious choice was a single father named Jason, a 31-year-old Account Executive from Washington State. He was raising his young son alone after a failed marriage and was yearning to find love again. The odds seemed in his favor. In the final rose ceremony, he was up against Jesse, a 25-year-old professional snowboarder from Colorado.
Jesse stuck out from the rest of the bachelors from the start. DeAnna commented about Jesse’s eccentricity on Los Angeles’ KTLA Morning News show: “He came out of the limo, and I was like [sarcastically] ‘Wow, you got all dressed up for me.’ And then, he’s that guy — once you sit down and talk to him, I realized that he’s a really great person. We have a lot of things in common, so that’s why he got that second first-impression rose.”
And while Jesse admits he thought he would be asked to go home at every rose ceremony, he kept his cool and week after week pursued more of a friendship with DeAnna. “I thought grease the hair down, look like a total kook, and if she keeps me around it’s ’cause she got to know me and she looked through that exterior,” Jesse says. “And I spent a lot of time becoming her friend. I wasn’t the guy trying to, you know, get all up on her. I was just becoming her friend and getting to know her.”
Well, it seemed to work! While Jason seemed to have great husband potential, the relationship between DeAnna and Jesse was slowly evolving into the real thing. As Brad had predicted, DeAnna was better off with someone that was committed to her 100%. When Jesse proposed, he asked DeAnna, “Will you spend forever with me?” And DeAnna, who broke up with Jason just moments before in the final rose ceremony, gave Jesse an ecstatic answer of “Yes!”
Many viewers may be skeptical that this relationship will last due to the track record of previous “Bachelor” contestants. The only bachelor/bachelorette to have made it down the aisle with the partner they picked on the show is Trista Rehn, now Trista Sutter, who met Ryan Sutter on the Bachelorette 2003 season when she, like DeAnna, was doing the choosing. Trista and Ryan’s 2003 wedding was televised on ABC and Trista gave birth to their first son in 2007.
DeAnna commented about the path that led her to “The Bachelorette”: “Every break-up makes you stronger as a person. Every thing happens for a reason and I am very, very thankful for that… I believe in the show. I believe in the concept of the show and that it is for real, it does happen. I can’t help it that it didn’t happen for Brad, but it happened for me.” DeAnna and Jesse’s wedding is set for May 9, 2009.
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