After many promises that this finale of The Bachelor would actually be, for once, the most dramatic in the series’ history, well, it didn’t disappoint. And now we’re all left wondering, could Arie Luyendyk Jr. have just dethroned the infamous Juan Pablo Galavis as the worst Bachelor ever? Safe to say that’s a big fat yes, but what makes this sting even more is that we legit had proof all along he was going to be a monster (as he called himself).

Arie gave us the hardest to watch breakup in Bachelor history, which was to the girl he had proposed to.

So let’s break it down a bit: we all saw Arie propose to Becca Kufrin in Peru, giving her the big, sparkly Neil Lane rock, only for him to decide runner-up Lauren Burnham is the one he really wanted to be with. He then decided it would be a good idea to dump Becca during what the poor girl thought was going to be a fun trip to Los Angeles. Oh, and he obviously alerted ABC to what was about to go down since they filmed it all and then let us see the raw, unedited footage of the breakup that host Chris Harrison reminded us about 85 times had never been done before. It felt like we were really there with Arie as he shattered Becca’s heart and simply wouldn’t leave her alone so she could sob in the bathroom, feeling betrayed and embarrassed.

As Becca said to Arie, why did he even bother to propose to her if was that unsure of what he wanted? He literally told Lauren he loved her as he dumped her and then a few minutes later, told Becca she was the one he wanted to make his wife. Granted, this show has a weird way of getting one person to fall in love with multiple people at the same time, but Arie then getting down on one knee shouldn’t have happened. Watching at home, popcorn in hand with my face in a constant state of “OH MY GOD WHAT IS HE DOING?!” I was straight-up shocked he popped the question to Becca after clearly telling Lauren he didn’t even know who he was going to choose the morning of. Bro, that is a MAJOR red flag that maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t have gotten engaged. But what makes this all a million times worse is that this switch-up decision really isn’t all that surprising.

There were red flags early on about his ways, coming straight from his exes.

When it was announced that Arie was going to be handing out the roses this season, heading out on a quest to find his one true love, the oh-so-devoted Bachelor Nation had the same collective, rather underwhelming reaction of, “Really?” No one signed up to see the blue-eyed kissing bandit back in action, years after he competed for Emily Maynard‘s heart. Fan favorite Peter Kraus, former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay‘s runner-up, was the man fans and even contestants on Arie’s season were hoping to see named as the Bachelor. But there was all that talk that Peter wasn’t really into the idea of proposing at the end of this journey, which he made clear while competing for Rach’s heart, and this isn’t something ABC was going to sign up for. They’re here to give us all a modern-day fairy-tale, no matter how rushed it may seem for people who have only been on a handful of dates. So they dug back in the archives and gave us Arie.

Except there was proof all along he would screw over Bachelor Nation with his ridiculous choices and that’s exactly what he did. First, let’s take into consideration what his ex-girlfriends said about him. There was Sydney Stempfley, who split from Arie after more than a year of dating and just a month after their breakup, it was announced he was going to be the Bachelor. And this was after she had spoken to him, asking if this was something he was seriously considering since she saw his name being thrown around Twitter — and he told her no. Umm, pretty sure he was lying.

“So, when I found out he was becoming the next Bachelor a month after our breakup, I’m sure you can imagine that I was completely blindsided,” Sydney said. “But I do feel like I have questions, of course, [like], ‘Is this the reason? [Is this] why you broke up with me?’ That’s probably my biggest question.” She has since taken to Twitter to let everyone know she warned us he would have trouble actually being able to choose one girl.

arie ex girlfriend sydney tweet

And homegirl was right! Plus, another one of Arie’s former flames, Jenna Jones, said in a series of now-deleted tweets that Arie’s “a dude who claims to be a hopeless romantic but forever cheats on and does despicable wrongs to women.” Well, Arie did say he was thinking of Lauren throughout his relationship with Becca, so clearly committing to one person and sticking with her isn’t his strong suit.

Basically, we fell victim to the hope Arie would be a decent Bachelor, only for him to crush that dream.

So yes, we literally should’ve known Arie was going to be horrid. Perhaps the most soul-crushing moment of this twisted Bachelor finale was when he ruthlessly told Becca he wasn’t going to be “half-in” with Lauren now that he plans to pursue a relationship with her like he was with B. Ouch, Arie. Ouch. And hey, even Juan Pablo didn’t cave into proposing to his final choice Nikki Ferrell since he wasn’t sure he was there yet. This was part of the reason why he’s not exactly beloved but, maybe Arie shouldn’t have been so willing to put a ring on it either when he was supposedly so in love with two women and, you know, ended up instantly regretting his decision. Lesson learned: Arie is the worst and we had warning signs he would be terrible. And yet, here we are, all annoyed we wasted time thinking, “Hey, maybe ABC choosing Arie won’t be so bad after all.” The joke is, sadly, on us all.

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