You've probably noticed by now that The Bachelor and The Bachelorette don't have what I'd call a spotless record of getting couples together and keeping them that way, but what exactly are we talking about as far as timeline? What are the Bachelor couples who dated for the shortest amount of time? Before I started researching this post, my assumption was that most relationships either last for around a year before petering out, or the couple gets married and lives happily ever after, but it turns out that that isn't true! Not even remotely.
A shocking number of relationships don't even make it to the year mark, even after getting engaged, and a whole host of them don't even clear six months. I'd been feeling pretty good about the stretch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette were on lately, with the couples from the three most recent seasons still together — Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth, Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell, and JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers — but these couples have me changing my tune a little bit. There are 17 on this list, and the longest-term pair on it is Nikki Ferrell and Juan Pablo Galavis, who made it nine whole months, but are one of the most notoriously unsuccessful couples out there. So hold it together, Bachelor Nation — when you start your engagement with a televised, whirlwind relationship, you're only ever one bad fight from joining this list yourself.
1. Melissa Rycroft and Jason Mesnick
Relationship Length: Less Than A Month
Jason Mesnick proposed to Melissa Rycroft during the finale of The Bachelor Season 13, but he'd changed his tune by the time After The Final Rose was filmed. On that show, shot before the finale even aired, he asked Rycroft's engagement ring back so he could present it to runner-up Molly Malaney instead. At just one month, that makes this the shortest relationship ever to come from The Bachelor, although Mesnick and Malaney have been married since 2010, so at least the messy breakup was worth it.
2. Jesse Palmer and Jessica Bowlin
Relationship Length: 2 Months
Jesse Palmer didn't end Season 5 of The Bachelor with a proposal to winner Jessica Bowlin, so it was probably not a huge surprise to anyone that they lasted only two months, from April to June 2004.
3. Travis Lane Stork and Sarah Stone
Relationship Length: 2 Months
This Season 8 Bachelor couple was similarly short-lived, and had the same story; Travis Lane Stork didn't propose to Sarah Stone at the conclusion of The Bachelor, and they broke up in March 2006 after two months together.
4. Bob Guiney and Estella Gardinier
Relationship Length: 3 Months
Bob Guiney ended Season 4 of The Bachelor by gifting Estella Gardinier with not an engagement ring but a promise ring, which meant they'd continue to date. Unfortunately, it bought them only one more month over similar couples whose seasons ended without proposals, and they had gone their separate ways by December 2003, just after the show finished airing.
5. Prince Lorenzo Borghese and Jennifer Wilson
Relationship Length: 4 Months
Once again — are you noticing a pattern here? — Borghese did not propose to Jennifer Wilson at the end of Season 9 of The Bachelor, and they were broken up by January 2007, four months after they started dating in October 2006.
6. Matt Grant and Shayne Lamas
Relationship Length: 4 Months
Congratulations to Matt Grant and Shayne Lamas, the first engaged couple to make this list! But then an immediate rescinding of those congratulations, as their engagement lasted just four months after the Season 12 finale of The Bachelor; the pair broke up in July 2008.
7. Brad Womack and Emily Maynard
Relationship Length: 5 Months
It was certainly an improvement on Brad Womack's last time on The Bachelor, where he picked neither of the women in the finale, but his relationship with Emily Maynard didn't fare much better. After getting engaged on the finale, Womack and Maynard broke up briefly while Season 15 was still airing, only to get back together and then split permanently in June 2011, after just five months.
8. Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi
Relationship Length: 6 Months
Jake Pavelka's decision to propose to Vienna Girardi on Season 14 of The Bachelor was controversial, so even though the two did get engaged, no one was shocked to see them call it off just six months later, in June 2010.
9. Aaron Buerge and Helene Eksterowicz
Relationship Length: 6 Months
Aaron Buerge and Helene Eksterowicz were on the show so long ago that you might not even recognize their names, especially because they made it work for just six months after Buerge's proposal on the second season of The Bachelor , breaking up in February 2003.
10. Andrew Baldwin and Tessa Horst
Relationship Length: 6 Months
Now here we have an interesting one: Andrew Baldwin and Tessa Horst got engaged during The Bachelor's Season 10 finale, and although they called off their engagement just a month after the finale, they stayed in the relationship itself until September 2007. How very odd.
11. Emily Maynard and Jef Holm
Relationship Length: 6 Months
Well hello again, Emily Maynard, and congratulations on being the first Bachelorette star to make the list. Unfortunately, that honor also means she has the shortest relationship of any woman to star on the show, although she's already outlasted the nine men above her — Brad Womack doesn't count, obviously — so let's give her some credit. Maynard and her selection Jef Holm got engaged in the Season 8 finale, but called things off just six months later, in October 2012.
12. Chris Soules and Whitney Bischoff
Relationship Length: 6 Months
And now, we're finally starting to see some more familiar names; Chris Soules proposed to Whitney Bischoff at the end of Season 19 of The Bachelor, but the two went their separate ways after only six months, announcing their split in May 2015.
13. Andi Dorfman and Josh Murray
Relationship Length: 7 Months
They seemed perfectly happy at the time, but based on what Andi Dorfman and her former fiancé Josh Murray have said about each other since, it's probably good that this Season 10 Bachelorette couple only stayed together for seven months, breaking up in January 2015.
14. DeAnna Pappas and Jesse Csincsak
Relationship Length: 7 Months
DeAnna Pappas and Jesse Csincsak got as far as choosing a wedding date after their engagement on Season 4 of The Bachelorette, but broke up and called it off in November 2008, after seven months as a couple.
15. Alex Michel and Amanda Marsh
Relationship Length: 8 Months
It's a miracle that The Bachelor has gone on for as long as it has, considering how unsuccessful it was in the beginning: Alex Michel and Amanda Marsh were the first-ever Bachelorette couple, and they lasted just eight months, breaking up in December 2002. And as you've probably noticed, they aren't the only pair from the early days who made this short-list. (Pun very much intended.)
16. Andrew Firestone and Jen Schefft
Relationship Length: 8 Months
Speaking of O.G. Bachelor couples, Andrew Firestone and Jen Schefft hail from Season 2, where they got engaged on television, as you do, then broke up just eight months later, in December 2003. Which, according to this list, is also "as you do" — they're the fifth of the first five seasons' worth of couples to make this list.
17. Juan Pablo Galavis and Nikki Ferrell
Relationship Length: 9 Months
And you know I couldn't end this list without putting Juan Pablo Galavis and Nikki Ferrell on it, so here we find ourselves. Galavis not only did not propose to Ferrell in The Bachelor's Season 18 finale, but refused to even tell Ferrell he loved her. Little wonder that they split up nine months later, in October 2014.
So what do you think? All geared up to watch Nick Viall's upcoming season of The Bachelor ? It's kind of a win-win at this point, because either he'll end up with someone wonderful and they'll stay together, which will be great, or he'll make this list and be in very good company. You gotta look for that silver lining!
Images: ABC (15)
