‘The Bachelorette’ Season 21 Finale Recap: Did Jenn Tran Get Engaged To Devin Strader Or Marcus Shoberg?

The most dramatic night in Bachelorette Season 21 history has arrived, and at long last, fans know the unprecedented ending to Jenn Tran’s season.

Ahead of her season premiere, Jenn told Decider she was “very happy with the way everything panned out” and “very excited for it all to come to light.” In the emotional lead-up to the finale, however, fans started to wonder if Marcus Shoberg could fall in love with Jenn in time to propose, and if Jenn’s feelings for Devin Strader would be strong enough to last a lifetime.

After Jenn had her final dates with Devin and Marcus in Hawaii, the two Jenn-tlemen met her family and she thought long and hard about the future she wanted to pursue. In the top pre-finale theories, fans considered a variety of scenarios, including Jenn and Devin getting engaged, Marcus leaving the show early, and Jenn ending up single at the end of her journey. So which was it? Buckle up, Bachelor Nation. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Looking for a Bachelorette Season 21 finale recap? Wondering if Jenn got engaged to Devin or Marcus? And if so, are Jenn and her winner still together? The Bachelorette finale breakdown you crave has arrived.

The Bachelorette Season 21 Finale Recap: Meeting The Tran Family

Before the final one-on-one dates of the season kicked off, Jenn introduced her Final Two Fellas to the fam, which was a massive step for her, because although she was excited about Devin and Marcus, she’d admittedly never introduced anyone to her family before. Jenn spoke a lot about her mom throughout the season, explaining that she immigrated from Vietnam and left medical school to give Jenn and her brother, James, a better life.

Jenn’s mom Trinh, Jenn’s brother James, Jenn’s aunt Lylan, and her friend Nicole headed to Hawaii to support Jenn and give their two cents on her final two guys, and believe us when we say they didn’t hold back. First up was Devin, who Jenn described as “constantly someone who lifts me up no matter what.” He went into the day confident that he loved Jenn but fearful that her family might not see him as good enough for her. Devin shared that like them, his family “has been through a lot” and he grew up with a single mom and understands what a strong woman can do for a family.

Jenn’s mom and aunt got to digging and asked Devin if he’d ever dated an Asian girl before. Devin said no, but explained there was no question in his mind that Jenn was the woman for him and got vulnerable about his father’s absence in his own life. Devin said it would “kill him” to not be the one and said he couldn’t propose to her without their blessing. Jenn told her mother she was happy and that with Devin she could really open up about her feelings and felt loved and understood. Her mom asked if Devin liked Vietnamese culture, and Jenn said he wants to learn more and help her celebrate that part of her. When Jenn asked her mom if she liked Devin, however, the mood sunk. Trinh said, “I think you need more time to understand each other before you can move forward” and expressed concern that the length of time they had to get to know each other on the show was too short by Vietnamese culture standards.

Meanwhile, brother James said he could see how close Devin and his sister had gotten, but as Jenn’s big brother, he ultimately felt his role was to grill the guys. James questioned Devin’s lack of father figure in his life, and said he thought she and Devin were a great match. When James asked how Devin knew Jenn was his person, Devin explained that he’s confident in them and he can be completely himself around her. Devin did express concerns that she took a while to tell him she loved him, but acknowledged it when it counted. He added that he only wants to propose to one woman in his life, but when he asked for James’ blessing to pop the question, James said, “I’m definitely not gonna give the blessing now. It’s not because I’m not sure about you, it’s because I haven’t talked to the second guy yet.” So not a no! But still another crushing blow to Devin’s self esteem that “scared” him even more. Ultimately, Devin told Jenn his family was “very assertive” with how they feel about her, but he thinks they’re “the grounding elements” to their journey. Jenn told him she loved him and the two parted with a kiss.

And then…there was Marcus, who Jenn said gives her “safety” and “comfortability,” despite the fact that the future of relationship was incredibly unstable and uncertain during Hometown and Fantasy Suite week. Jenn was admittedly nervous to introduce Marcus to her loved ones, especially because they knew he hadn’t said “I love you” yet, and Marcus was predictably nervous as well!

Marcus shared a bit about his untraditional upbringing and his experience in foster care, touched on his time in combat, and opened up about his near-death experience. James respected Marcus’ honesty but didn’t love the fact that he left out updates on his journey with and feelings for Jenn. When the two stepped away to talk, Marcus admitted he “underestimated how much emotion plays into a relationship” and James brought up his concern born from Jenn’s history with emotionally unavailable men. After their chat, Marcus sat down with Jenn’s mom and aunt and opened up about his hesitations. He said, “Jenn has made me realize that I’m well on my way to finding true love…I want to get there for her…the feelings I have for your daughter are real and I do believe we can get there,” which of course caused Jenn’s mom to follow up with, “So you’re not ready for engagement?” (Way to go, Trinh!)

When Jenn’s brother James sat down to debrief with Jenn, he (rightfully!) called her out on her history with people who are emotionally unavailable and asked, “How long are you willing to wait?” Though the words were difficult for Jenn to hear, they were also a crucial part of her journey that seemed to refocus her perspective. (Sidenote: Can James be MY brother, too?!)

After leaving her family, Jenn realized she needed to ask Marcus about his readiness straight-out so she asked how he saw the journey ending for them. “It was difficult but I definitely think today was progress. Today helped,” he said. When Jenn pressed him for an answer, he couldn’t give her certainty and said he felt overwhelmed by the pressure. “I’m trying because I believe that it’s possible and I hope that continues to be good enough,” he said. Once again, Jenn left wanting answers and didn’t think she should feel so confused this late in the game.

The Bachelorette Season 21 Finale Recap: Jenn’s Finale One-On-One Dates With Devin Strader And Marcus Shoberg

In the finale preview, we heard Jenn say, “I truly am in love with Marcus and Devin. I never thought that I could be in love with one person, let alone two. So I have a really big decision to make.” Aside from “I never thought that I could be in love” being a bit of Bachelorette lead red flag, we need to take a moment to rehash Fantasy Suite Week, which showed Jenn being head over heels in love with Marcus, but Marcus needing more time, and Devin being head over heels in love with Jenn, but Jenn needing more time. Eventually, Jenn told Devin she was in love with him (“I love you, you idiot!”), but Devin was also seconds away from leaving the show when she said it…so were her feelings for him authentic and are they as strong as or stronger than her feelings for Marcus? Let’s find out!

For their final one-on-one date, Devin met Jenn on the beach for a #huju (hug jump) and they headed to meet spiritual guides for a Hawaiian spiritual ceremony, which happens before any big life event. The two grew closer as they tried to let go of the weight of their pasts and fears about the future. As the sun set, Devin and Jenn had a mini heart-to-heart and Jenn did her best to reassure him, despite Marcus still being in the picture.

Later that night, Devin and Jenn dove deeper into their feelings for each other and Devin reassured her, “You are the most important thing in my life. I love the thought of forever with you. I could leave here crying in tears or I could leave here happy, but I trust your opinions and I trust your judgement.” Jenn felt like Devin saw her completely, especially after he gave her a gift: a gift that he got from the shaman on their first one-on-one in Auckland, New Zealand.

She left her date with Devin realizing how important he and his “unconditional love” were to her, and she headed into her final day with Marcus more skeptical than ever. Waking up, she felt frustrated and confused about Marcus’ feelings for her and his uncertainty, and before the date, Marcus met with his pal Jesse Palmer and laid all his fears and struggles out on the table for him, not Jenn. He said every time he sees Jenn they make progress and he cares about her deeply. So Jesse, understandably confused, peppered him with more questions. “Listen, I’m not telling you how you should feel or how you’re supposed to feel about it, but I do think it’s really important that if deep down inside, as scary as it is to admit it, if in fact you do love this woman I think you gotta tell her,” Jesse said. “Because I’m afraid you’re gonna lose her if you don’t.” (Makes sense, Jesse! But if you have to spoon-feed him the feelings, he doesn’t have them!)

Rather than fake a happy one-on-one date, Jenn got down to business and went to Marcus’ room to get answers. During an emotional one-on-one chat, Jenn once again reminded Marcus that there’s an engagement in One (1) Day and that they were running out of time and she still has no idea if he sees her in his future.

“I regret not diving deeper into what the future looks like…It’s not that I can’t picture it and it’s not exciting. It’s just that it’s scary to me. I’m struggling for sure,” Marcus said. “I want to keep trying. My highest aspiration in life is to find my person and start a family…At the end of the day I know that I love you…I don’t want to give up on us.” (An “I love you”?! In the final hour? Get outta here, guy!)

A frustrated, visibly fed-up Jenn rested her head in her hand and explained how much she invested in their relationship — essentially for nothing. “Where am I supposed to go from here?” she asked. “I’m just tired of it I don’t want to feel this way.” When Marcus assured her that he didn’t want to give up on them, Jenn took a moment to herself to gather her emotions. (JENN! DUMP THIS MAN RIGHT NOW!)

When Jenn composed herself and returned to Marcus, he tearfully said he was afraid of losing her and that he was afraid to tell her he was in love with her. Jenn set him straight and said she gave too much to him along the way. She realized she was repeating old patterns and said she was done hedging her future on someone who didn’t want to be with her. “I’m just done. I genuinely had so much hope for us,” she told Marcus. “I know what I want for my future and I know it’s not this feeling anymore.” (YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally!)

What’s The Deal With Jenn And Jesse’s Heart-To-Heart?

Jenn said a tearful farewell to Marcus and left him crying in his hotel room. When she woke up the next day, she was still sorting through her emotions ahead of a potential proposal from Devin. And speaking of Devin, he was meeting with Bachelor Franchise icon Neil Lane to pick out a ring!

Meanwhile, the highly-anticipated Jenn and Jess heart-to-heart arrived! Jenn told Jesse she “felt 100%” about her decision to say goodbye to Marcus, but that she woke up with “a totally different point of view” on her day ahead with Devin. She realized that in order to fulfill herself she had to choose herself, and wasn’t going to let Devin propose to her….because SHE WAS GOING TO PROPOSE TO DEVIN…just like we all suspected!!!!!!!!!!!

Before the proposal, however, Jesse Palmer cut in from the studio to announce that “because of what transpired” since that day in Hawaii we wouldn’t be seeing the proposal until we heard from Jenn. *GASP* So what did Jenn have to say? Trust us, you’ve never seen anything like this from a live finale.

Who Won The Bachelorette? Did Jenn Tran Get Engaged To Devin Strader?

Yes…but it’s complicated. The Season 21 lead returned to stage in tears and gathered herself to announce, “It’s been a really hard couple of months. We had left Hawaii engaged very happy. It was the happiest day of my life, I thought I found the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with. And then essentially as soon as we left Hawaii things were just different. It just felt like he was pulling away — all the promises he made of wanting to move together somewhere and see each other all the time — the efforts were inconsistent. I was confused. I didn’t understand, because we left so happy.”

“I felt like I was secondary to everything in his life, he wasn’t introducing me to his family anymore…I didn’t understand why and we had a happy couple planned sometime last month early and the night before I got a phone call and he basically broke off the engagement,” Jenn revealed. “He basically said that he didn’t love me anymore and didn’t feel the same way and felt something was off since the second he proposed. And he regretted getting engaged.”

Jenn said that for the past month she’d been trying to empathize with the way he was feeling and knew how hard it was to come off the show. She said she even told Devin they could take the pressure off the engagement and just date, but he was “checked out” and “it wasn’t what he wanted anymore.” Jenn also revealed that Devin didn’t want to go to couple’s counseling or fight for the relationship anymore, and that watching the season back was incredibly confusing, because “no one forced him to say the things that he said.”

When Devin came out on stage and reunited with Jenn for the first time since July, she destroyed him. “Ending the engagement on a phone call? The next day I wake up to you following girls on Instagram?! And not just any girl, but Maria?!” Jenn said as the audience gasped. “Not only is that so disrespectful to everything we shared together — I just don’t understand it. It completely invalidated our relationship. Everything we felt for each other. Did that even mean anything to you?”

Devin struggled to defend his actions and finally said, “I can’t excuse the Instagram follow. I know that hurt you…I failed you and there’s nothing I can say other than that…” Jenn continued to press him, saying that when he told her he needed time and space to process his emotions he was “in New York clubbing with Jeremy.” Devin told her that when he left the show he had a lot of doubts and “regretfully suppressed those feelings” until two months after filming.

He maintained that he was honest with her “every step of the way” before admitting that he was “regretfully late in letting her know.” Jenn let him have it again, saying, “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I wanted to have a family with you and you didn’t see those things.” She told Devin it was disrespectful for him to promote the show every week and “post memes about Sam” while she was watching every Monday night with her heart “broken over and over again” watching the lies he told on TV.

“You said to my mom that you knew what it was like to be abandoned and you never wanted to do that to me,” Jenn continued. “Everything that you said on that TV show…when did you try to fight for our relationship?”

Jesse took a moment to apologize to Jenn for her love story not unfolding the way she hoped, but said that she showed all of us what a strong and powerful woman is and, “Nobody can ever take that away from you.”

After all of this, for GOD KNOWS WHAT REASON in an incredibly cruel and insensitive move, as Jenn was in tears in front of a live studio audience, Jesse decided to play her and Devin’s proposal.

So, uh, yeah. Jenn proposed to Devin, Devin accepted as though his heart was fully in it….and we all know what happened next. YIKES, ABC. What the heck what this torture?!

Be sure follow along with the rest of our Season 21 finale and After The Final Rose coverage here.