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Are Bachelor in Paradise’s Maurissa Gunn and Riley Christian Still Together? Why They Split
Say it ain’t so! Bachelor in Paradise couple Maurissa Gunn and fiancé Riley Christian announced their split in January 2022, following fan speculation.
“We have decided to go our separate ways. Never did we imagine this, but we’ve come to a point where we both need to work on ourselves,” Maurissa and Riley said in a joint statement to People at the time. “We’ve appreciated everyone’s love and support so far throughout our journey and we just ask that you please respect our privacy as we navigate through this.”
But what led to their breakup? Maurissa spoke candidly about their decision while appearing on an April 2022 episode of the “Almost Famous” podcast.
“Sometimes who you meet on the show is not who they are after the show, if that makes sense,” she said. “I’m not trying to shade in any way. … Our whole relationship was legit, of course. I loved him from the bottom of my heart. I’m sure he loved me back but it just didn’t work out.”
Maurissa noted that it was “a difficult situation.” The ABC star went on to say that things started to go south on the beach when she was unsure about Riley’s feelings.
Prior to their official breakup announcement, multiple clues led fans to wonder if they were still together. Speculation started when eagle-eyed fans noticed Maurissa deleted most of the photos of Riley off her Instagram feed. The only ones that remained were from the spread they did for People and promotional Bachelor in Paradise snapshots.
In addition, Maurissa raised some eyebrows when she showed off stylish outfit via social media and her Neil Lane engagement ring was noticeably missing from her left hand. Earlier that day, she shared a sweet note of support calling her an “amazing person” from her sister attached to a gift basket full of chocolate-covered strawberries.
It appeared Maurissa was spilling some sort of tea because she also posted a cryptic quote that read, “All that glitters is not gold.”
As for Riley, he shared his own suspicious message with followers via Instagram. “We ain’t come this far just to come this far. Work hard, stay humble but still let ‘em know that you got it,” the attorney captioned a montage video of himself having an intense workout in January 2022. “No matter how many times we get knocked down, we get back up. Giving it everything we got [in] 2022.”
At the time, the Michigan native’s feed was still full of photos of his lady love.
“Happy holidays … from the commoners,” Riley captioned a cuddled-up selfie of the two in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City in December 2021. TikToker Zachary Reality reported the same picture was previously on Maurissa’s feed but had been deleted.
Riley shared two snapshots of him and the Montana native wearing matching pajamas in front of a Christmas tree when celebrating the holidays. Maurissa was also very prominent throughout her man’s 2021 recap, which was posted on New Year’s Day.
“I learned a lot in 2021. At the end of the day, I’m one of the luckiest guys on the planet. Bring on 2022,” the hopeful caption read.
Riley and Maurissa got engaged during the season 7 finale of Paradise. They fell head over heels for each other on their first date — and even made things official in the boom boom room that night. The reality stud popped the question with a two-carat, pear-shaped diamond ring surrounded by 43 round-cut diamonds, Us Weekly reported.
