Two women got engaged on the season finale of Bachelor in Paradise on Wednesday, making them the first same-sex couple in Bachelor franchise history.
The engagement was one of the three featured couplings. By the episode’s end, Demi Burnett proposed to her Kristian Haggerty on a beach in Mexico, according to Time.
“There were a lot of things that came between us, mostly myself and my own struggles,” Burnett said to Haggerty. “Like you said, I came here to find myself. But I found myself in you.”
Burnett then got down on one knee and proposed.
The proposal ended a season that was hailed as “groundbreaking” by LGBTQ groups such as GLAAD.
“Tens of millions of people around the world watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette franchises,” GLAAD’s Anthony Ramos said, “and this move to include a same-sex relationship in an honest fashion has the power to upend preconceived notions of LGBTQ people like Demi who are attracted to more than one gender.”
The full relationship was not featured during the season as Burnett initially came on the show looking for a relationship with a male cast member. But at some point during the season, Burnett claimed to have had an epiphany that she really wanted a relationship with Haggerty, whom she dated briefly before joining the Bachelor in Paradise season. Producers then flew Haggerty to the resort for the finale.
“I’ve learned that it’s okay to be myself and embrace that and own it,” Burnett told People magazine. “I want to be honest and open. Love is love.”
For her part, Haggerty said that she didn’t realize how much she would miss Burnett until after she left to film the show.
“I don’t think I touched base with my feelings until she had left and that’s when I realized how much I cared about her,” Haggerty told the magazine. “We just got engaged, and we need to breathe for a minute. But I am super excited to plan a wedding!”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.