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His Final Rose! The Bachelor’s Nick Viall and Girlfriend Natalie Joy Are Engaged
Congratulations are in order for Nick Viall and his girlfriend, Natalie Joy. The season 21 Bachelor and the surgical technologist announced their engagement on Thursday, January 12, nearly two years after going Instagram official in January 2021.
“For the rest of my life, it’s you,” Nick, 42, captioned an Instagram post showing off photos from the stunning proposal. Natalie, for her part, shared the post via Instagram Stories, writing, “Forever baby.”
For years, Nick tried to find love in Bachelor Nation. First, the Waukesha, Wisconsin, native appeared on season 10 of The Bachelorette, where he was the runner-up for leading lady Andi Dorfman. Nick returned for season 11 of The Bachelorette starring Kaitlyn Bristowe and unfortunately, met the same fate.
During his season of The Bachelor in 2017, the ABC personality proposed to finalist Vanessa Grimaldi. However, months later, the pair announced their split.
While Nick and Natalie went official in 2021, the pair had been sparking romance rumors since 2019. Finally, during a February 2021 episode of “The Viall Files” podcast, Nick revealed they connected after Natalie slid into his DMs.
“It was very romantic,” the reality star laughed. “We kind of kept hanging out, and she finally got to a point where she was like, ‘I want to date,’ and I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know.’ … She just was like, ‘OK, this is what I want. It’s fine, no big deal, but I’m gonna go do my thing,’ and she did, and I was like, ‘What?!’ … She went and showed me exactly what I’d be missing.”
Part of Natalie’s appeal to Nick was that she wasn’t a member of the reality TV franchise that made him famous. During an appearance on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast in July 2021, he assured that after his breakup from Vanessa, he “made a conscious decision to not in any way, shape or form, romantically or otherwise, be involved with anyone from Bachelor Nation.”
Nick went on to reveal that although some former contestants asked him to “hang out,” he always turned them down. “I’m like, ‘Listen, you seem great, but I literally don’t date anyone in Bachelor Nation,'” he recalled.
Come summer 2022, Nick and Natalie were stronger than ever. The lovebirds even packed on the PDA on the red carpet of the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Since then they’ve continued to show off their love online.
“I wanted to share with you how lucky I feel to be loved by this woman,” Nick captioned an October 2022 Instagram post. “From the moment I met her, it was clear to how much she prioritized making people loved. Through her actions she constantly reminds me of the power of generosity, compassion and empathy.”
