The Bachelor Season 22 star Arie Luyendyk Jr. has revealed he only appeared on The Bachelor Winter Games -- which was filmed only a few weeks after Arie got engaged to Becca Kufrin -- in order to be able to ask the franchise's producers about Lauren Burnham.
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During this week's episode of Rachel's Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, Arie admitted he had used The Bachelor spinoff as a chance to check up on Lauren, whom he was still thinking about at the time.
"I remember thinking about Winter Games and I was like, 'Oh, you know, if I go to Winter Games, I can probably see Lauren's producer and then maybe, like, see how she's doing,'" Arie revealed to Rachel.
"That was, like, my whole motivation for actually going to Winter Games."
Rachel seemed shocked by Arie's disclosure, given the pair had talked in length about his experience on The Bachelor's 22nd season behind the scenes with JoJo.
Rachel said she had no idea Lauren was Arie's motivation for going on Winter Games at the time.
"Honestly, it was really good for me to go there and to talk to you guys... It was really helpful," Arie said, referencing his conversations with the two ladies.
Once Rachel and JoJo voiced how they had never once questioned their final picks after the final Rose Ceremony -- Bryan Abasolo and Jordan Rodgers, respectively -- Arie really doubted whether he had made the right decision in proposing marriage to Becca.
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"It actually gave me a lot of clarity, and yeah, I was definitely lost at that point and really questioning how the show ended," Arie confessed, adding that he had felt an "enormity of pressure" at the time he had filmed the Final Rose Ceremony.
Not long after his The Bachelor engagement to Becca, Arie felt he had made a mistake and was actually in love Lauren instead.
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The Bachelor finale therefore showed Arie dumping a totally shocked and blindsided Becca, only to beg Lauren for another chance.
Lauren ultimately took Arie back in early 2018, and then the couple got engaged on The Bachelor: After the Final Rose's live broadcast in March 2018.
Since then, Arie and Lauren got married in Hawaii and welcomed a baby girl, Alessi, in May.
During the season, Becca was a down-to-earth fan-favorite, while Lauren was seemingly quiet and standoffish around Arie, which made it difficult for viewers to get to know her and support her.
During Rachel's podcast, she got into more detail about how her conversation with Arie went when they filmed The Bachelor Winter Games.
"The first time I met Arie, we were on the road to Winter Games, and we had so much fun. We were in the middle of nowhere... We had nothing to do -- me, Arie and JoJo -- but eat and drink... And so Arie just really started opening up to us and talking to us," Rachel recalled.
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Since Arie didn't want to spoil his season's ending, he referred to Becca as No. 1 and Lauren as No. 2 during their chat.
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"I'm just hearing him talk about the season, and JoJo and I look at each other and we're like, 'You know, we really think you like that No. 2,'" Rachel recalled with a laugh.
"That No. 2, I think that's who you need to be with,' and at the time, we didn't know it was you, [Lauren]... Come to find out, it is No. 2... and now you guys are happy, married, parents!"
Arie insisted he's "really happy" with the way things turned out and his relationship is still going strong.
Arie and Lauren revealed during the podcast, however, parenthood has been the greatest challenge for them in the last year.
"Parenting is hard," Arie said, adding that it's difficult not to get grumpy when sleep-deprived.
"People make it look so much easier than it is... It is not easy... We had a hard time with our first baby," Lauren said.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
