Sick with anticipation, “Bachelor” fans from all across the nation watched the season finale like hawks, dying to find out from any small detail who the future Mrs. Ben Higgins would be. The only issue was this Bachelor fandom was torn apart. Half of the nation was rooting for blonde, sophisticated, sweet Lauren Bushnell, while the other was cheering tan, spunky, fun JoJo Fletcher to steal Ben’s heart. The heart wrenching finale showed how Ben’s one true love turned out to be Lauren, despite the fact he told both women he was in love with her.

This dramatic event sent a ripple through the Staples community as Bachelor fans reacted the next day. This is because of the religious following the show has had throughout this season and past seasons.

Julia Lindwall ’16 says how “Every Monday a bunch of my friends and I would get together to watch the episode because we’re all diehard bachelor fans”  She later explained that she and her friends were in fact ‘Team Jojo’. “Jojo losing [was hard] and we definitely shed some tears…” she said.

This differed from fellow senior girl Annie Haroun ’16 who showed that she “was actually rooting for Lauren the whole time. I thought she and Ben had the best connection since their relationship developed quickly right in the beginning.” After watching many seasons of the Bachelor and Bachelorette in the past, she gives her opinion of this finale versus others. “ I thought [the finale]  was pretty good. I loved the proposal and how Ben called Lauren’s dad to ask for permission before he got down on one knee.”

The rest of Bachelor viewers agreed with this, after it was confirmed by the women on the show and host Chris Harrison that Ben was by far one of the most genuine and caring bachelors, an epic proposal was something that was important for him not only to give to his viewers, but also to the woman he was planning on spending his life with.

The thousands of hearts across the nation that were broken were then saved when a mere 30 minutes later, the world found out that Jojo Fletcher was going to be the bachelorette next season. Many thought second runner up Caila Quinn was going to be the one handing out 25 roses next season. This was because the producers of the show originally offered the spot to her, but by the time the finale came around, many people resonated with Jojo. She was the one that the viewers most wanted to find love.

According to Sam Little ’17, she “.. found that Jojo was the better pick for Ben [and] I really wanted Jojo to win.”

This was a positive choice by the Bachelor team because many viewers had some issues with Caila. As Jason Nelson ’16 puts it, “I wouldn’t have liked having her as the bachelorette because she is extremely difficult to unravel. Ben himself said he liked her because she has many layers, however I think she might have too many layers.”

As Bachelor season finally comes to a close, it is only a matter of time before the Staples community is suddenly ‘very busy’ at 8 o’clock on Monday nights, screaming at the contestants about who they think they should end up with.