On May 22, 2017, the world was introduced to Dean Unglert, a contestant competing for the heart of former Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay.
Courtesy of People
On that day, Bachelor Nation, myself included, completely fell for the 25-year-old startup recruiter. One might even call me a Deanie-Baby.
Bachelor Nation watched as he made it pretty far in the Bachelorette, eventually making his way into hometown dates where he confronted his father, whom he blamed for causing his rough childhood. Unfortunately, Dean and his eccentric family were not enough for Rachel, and she sent him home the following rose ceremony.
However, on the live showing of The Men Tell All, Dean revealed that he was going on the upcoming season of “Bachelor in Paradise”, sparking excitement within Bachelor Nation. Why?
BECAUSE. EVERYBODY. WANTS. SOME. OF. DEAN.
Courtesy of Imgix
Fast forward a couple of months and “Bachelor in Paradise” begins to air. Viewers watched as he quickly became romantically involved with Kristina Schulman, a former contestant on Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor”. Kristina was known on her season for being a little reserved, mature for her age, and having spent a large portion of her childhood in a Russian orphanage. Kristina expressed that she had come onto “Bachelor in Paradise” to find a romantic relationship, not to just fool around. Dean, on the other hand, didn’t really know what he wanted out of the show.
The two hit it off quickly, and remained a solid pair even when the brief shutdown of the show occurred. When the show resumed filming, the two still had a lot of chemistry and neither seemed to express any romantic interest in any other cast member. But that all changed when Danielle Lombard (also known as “D-Lo”) came along… and so the love triangle began.
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Both Kristina and Danielle are very pretty girls; let me just put that out there. When Danielle first entered with a date card in hand, Dean was interested. Like, really interested. Of course, Kristina was not happy, but not wanting to be the controlling type, she didn’t say much. Danielle asked Dean on a date, to which he said “yes”, and the pair hit it off.
This brings us to the rest of the season. Dean could not decide who he likes better, Kristina or Danielle. He had stated multiple times that he knows he’s being a jerk by going back and forth between the two girls, yet he can’t just pick between them. *side eye*
Honestly, I feel bad for both girls. Kristina had been with Dean since the beginning of the show, and now her man is prancing with some other, more bubbly girl on the other side of that Mexican beach while she sadly watches them from afar and cries her eyes out. She deserves so much better. #JusticeForKristina. On the other hand, Danielle just wants some Dean action (I can’t blame her, TBH) but can’t get him all to herself because he won’t break up with his first girlfriend.
However, things took a turn in Week 4 when Danielle had decided she had enough, and gave Dean an ultimatum to choose between her and Kristina, resulting in Dean telling Kristina he wanted to “pursue a relationship with Danielle.” Naturally, Kristina was furious, not only that Dean wanted to be with someone else, but also that she had wasted most of her time in Paradise waiting for him to make this decision all along. As it was “Ladies’ Week”, she announced to the rest of her cast members during the Rose Ceremony that she would not be handing out a rose, and leaving Mexico.
Ugh.
UGH.
DEAN. WHY?!
It was sad to see that he had picked Danielle over Kristina because he had a “more physical attraction to her”, although he admitted deep down Kristina was better for him. I’m not sure if I can call myself a Deanie-Baby anymore, because it seems like Dean is just another guy who cares about physical attraction more than anything else. However, “Bachelor in Paradise” is not over. Will Dean and Danielle last until the finale? Will Dean redeem himself and prove that he’s not a douchebag? Will I ever become a proud Deanie-Baby again???? We’ll just have to wait and see as the finale airs September 11th at 8pm.