Devin Strader revealed whether he really would have quit The Bachelorette Jenn Tran had allowed her ex-boyfriend Matt Rossi to join her bachelorette party in New Zealand.
To The Bachelorette On the July 29 episode, Matt — who Jesse said traveled all the way to New Zealand at his own expense — told Jenn, a good friend he dated for several months a few years ago, that he still loved her and wanted to win her back.
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At the cocktail party in Auckland before the fifth rose ceremony of the season, Devin confessed to Grant Ellis, “If she does that (lets Matt join), I’m leaving,” and to the other guys he announced, “If Jenn comes in here with that guy, that rose (on my chest) won’t mean anything to me anymore.”
When asked if he actually felt that way on the August 8 episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, Devin replied, “Oh yeah.”
Devin explained to Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt: “I think that was one of those moments where – I like to say that I think about a lot of the things I’m going to say instead of just spitting them out, but for me that was just pure emotion.”
Devin said he had “played ex-games” before in his life and this had been “a theme” of his life.
“It’s important for me to have the strength to take this path. I’ve started a new chapter in my life and I’m giving everything to this woman. I want to see where it can lead,” Devin said.
“We had just been on an amazing date, and that was personal for me, you know? Those feelings were personal. I had just told her I was falling in love with her. There were all these new, developing, budding feelings that I was experiencing – and then the bombshell drops.”
Devin expressed his anger that he was afraid that “some guy” from Jenn’s past would show up and just “take her away.”
“(I thought), ‘This could be it!’ Because I know how easy it can be to fall into that feeling of comfort with an ex-partner.”
However, Jenn rejected Matt and decided to send him home. Jenn explained to her fellow bachelors that it felt like an “I love you” from Matt came from the wrong person.
Even though Jenn broke Matt’s heart, the 28-year-old beer salesman and content creator from Boston held his head high and apologized to Jenn’s men’s group before leaving the show.
“I came here of my own accord, but she let me know that her future lies in this room,” Matt explained in a soft voice.
“She is confident that you can offer her something that I can’t, and I’m just here to apologize. I’m not here to take away from your experience. I wish you the best, and I wish Jenn the best.”
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Devin admitted that he was “very glad” that Matt didn’t stay.
“I don’t want to deal with that,” Devin said, before joking that he and his enemy Sam McKinney actually bonded in that one brief moment because they wanted to get Jenn’s ex-boyfriend out of the way.
“I think we had a conversation where it was, ‘I know I hate you and you hate me, but we both hate this guy a lot more!’ That was probably the only good moment we had.”
Devin said it must have been hard for the community to hear that a man from Jenn’s past still loved her and wanted to give her a second chance.
“It was a very refreshing feeling to know he was leaving, but not just because he was leaving, but because it was like I was watching Jenn grow in that moment,” Devin recalled.
“I know where I have failed in the past, where I made the mistake of going back to an ex-partner and not having the strength to know that there is something better for me in my future.”
Devin said he felt “so much more connected” seeing Jenn come to this revelation in an area he himself had previously struggled with. The Bachelorette Star.
“I just thought, ‘Wow, everything I’ve tried in the past and everything I needed to do to get to a (better) place in my mind, you just did it!'” Devin raved.
“And it was amazing to see her choose the uncomfortable moment rather than just the safe and reliable moment and the moment where she focused on what she knew from the past. It was, ‘I know there’s something better out there and I want to see where it goes.'”
Matt and Jenn dated when they both lived in Boston before Jenn moved to Miami, FL for PA school.
“He ended it,” Jenn confirmed during a recent appearance on “The Viall Files.”
Jenn shared during filming The Bachelorette in April that she and Matt – who called himself a “fuckboy” on his first date with Jenn – had become friends again and hung out platonically for a while.
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While Jenn had banished Matt to the friend zone, he told The Bachelorette Cameras: “We were in love and I think a part of us will always be in love, but for me it was just never that strong. I think that by being here I am proving to her how much she means to me and how seriously I take this.”
Jenn admitted to Nick Viall on his podcast that she was “confused” by Matt’s heartfelt speech because, at least in her opinion, they were never in love.
Jenn was also a bit frustrated because Matt had “so many chances” to confess his love or hit on her before she began her journey on The Bachelor franchise.
When Matt tried to win Jenn back, he insisted that he was ready to get engaged.
Matt told Jenn that the last three months have felt “different” for him, adding, “I feel like we’ve connected on a deeper level. You are one of the most important people in my life and you know me better than anyone in the world. I’m not ready to let it all go.”
Jenn replied, “You know, you could have said that before I left.”
“I said it,” Matt replied. “But I guess I didn’t put it very well. It’s not the first time I’ve said it, and I really hope it won’t be the last: But I really do love you.”
When Jenn and Matt met again at the cocktail party, Jenn explained how much Matt had touched her heart, but that she needed more explanation.
“It’s now or never. You’re leaving this engaged and there’s no flexibility… When we got back together, I saw things in you that made (my feelings) so deep,” Matt explained to Jenn.
“When we started, we were completely different people and not the adults we are today… I hope you can see how much you mean to me. I’m just not ready to let it go yet.”
Jenn told Matt that she really cared about him and that they had fun together, but she clearly had confidence in the relationships she was building on The Bachelorette.
Matt admitted to feeling “a little crushed” by the rejection, and in his final words on the show, said, “I have to respect (how Jenn has changed). At least we’re both getting the closure we didn’t get. It’s just not what I was hoping for.”
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Click here to read episode-by-episode spoilers on how the rest of Jenn’s Bachelorette season unfolds, including who Jenn chooses as her winner and runner-up.
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About the author:
Elisabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is deputy editor of Reality TV World and has covered the reality TV genre for more than a decade.
