Reality show romance has never bloomed more often than in The Bachelor franchise. Or slightly outside of it, as is the case with fan favorites Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes. On their season of Bachelor in Paradise, the romance between the pair was decidedly rocky.
That was back in 2019. Here in 2023, the two Bachelor contestants grew closer off-screen. Now they’re engaged, and they recently had a reality TV celebrity-filled engagement party to make it official.
Unglert and Miller-Keyes got engaged in a hilariously fitting way
Things started getting especially serious between the two former Bachelor contestants within a year. The famously marriage-averse Unglert started talking about warming up to the idea of getting married. By 2021, he was openly talking about the idea of getting engaged.
In something of a throwback to their rocky initial days, the happy couple’s big moment was more difficult than expected. They embarked on an 11-hour mountainous hike. The future husband started worrying he had made a mistake when his future wife became exhausted and annoyed with the trip.
“When she was losing it during the difficult part of the hike, in my head, I was like, ‘I’m going to ask you to marry me in, like, four hours, so you need to turn this attitude around,’” Unglert said to ET Online. She was, of course, ecstatic once he popped the question.
‘The Bachelor’ fans had a lot to say about the engagement party
US Magazine reports that Unglert and Miller-Keyes recently had their engagement party in Los Angeles. The rare rainy day in Los Angeles didn’t stop the event from being packed with fellow Bachelor alums: Becca Tilley, Tanya Rad, Wells Adams, and Modern Family star Sarah Hyland were present.
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The big to-do had fans of the series abuzz on social media — in particular, on The Bachelor’s Reddit forum, where fans quickly shared pictures of their favorite former contestants meeting up once more. “She is so naturally beautiful,” one Reddit user wrote, a sentiment echoed repeatedly throughout the comments.
But in proper reality TV fan forum fashion, another fan replied, “She’s beautiful, but I’m not a fan of a crop top fancy outfits.” Someone always has to get a shot in; it would almost seem wrong if someone didn’t! One notable sentiment came as a reply to a Reddit post showing off the aesthetics of the engagement party venue.
“I was not a Caelynn and Dean fan at all at the beginning more because I didn’t have a good opinion of them separately, however, this couple has grown on me so much. I really like them together, and I love that they have a social media presence, but they are still private and seem genuine.”
It seems that whatever misgivings some fans had over the on-screen versions of Unglert and Miller-Keyes, they’re mostly over it. The couple has matured, and their fans have grown with them.
Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes started their romance on ‘Bachelor in Paradise’
Unglert joined the 2019 season of Bachelor in Paradise in Week 2. He immediately hit it off with Miller-Keyes, and fans were smitten with their obvious chemistry. Those sparks often had a negative streak to them, though, that culminated in Unglert leaving the show single, according to People.
Unglert quickly regretted that decision, while Miller-Keyes moved on to a TV courtship with contestant Connor Saeli. The impulsive breakup bothered Unglert so much that he returned to San Diego, where the series took place in 2019, and asked Miller-Keyes to leave the show to be with him. She agreed — and they’ve been together ever since.
