Bachelor in Paradise couple Kenny Braasch and Mari Pepin-Solis have risen above adversity and overcome some obstacles on Season 7 of the summer series, so what happened between the couple when filming the finale? What do spoilers reveal about if Kenny and Mari get engaged and are still together and dating now?
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[Bachelor in Paradise Spoiler Warning: This report includes spoilers about Kenny and Mari's Bachelor in Paradise relationship and what viewers can expect to see on the finale.]
On Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season, Mari, a marketing manager, connected with Kenny, a boyband manager, right off the bat, but then she decided to keep her options open.
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Once Mari broke the news to Kenny that she'd like them both to remain open to dating new arrivals on the beach, Demi Burnett pursued Kenny and bragged how "all is fair in love and war."
Mari and Demi got into a heated spat over Kenny, and at one point, Mari even threw a birthday cake Demi had made for Kenny's 40th birthday into a bonfire.
Mari subsequently told Kenny that she wanted to continue their romance, but Kenny, afraid his relationship with Mari had become "toxic," decided to go to "The Boom Boom Room" with Demi.
Kenny's romance with Demi was fun and sexual, but he wasn't totally invested in her. Kenny even accepted a date from Tia Booth once she arrived on the beach.
Tia and Kenny sparked a connection and played a naked game of volleyball with strangers, but Demi was convinced Kenny would return to her since she's "playful and sexy" and supposedly more fun than most of the other ladies in Paradise.
Meanwhile, Mari still had feelings for Kenny and said she missed him and was prepared to fight for him, and so Kenny found himself in a love triangle -- and a bit of a pickle.
Mari shared with Kenny once he returned from his date with Tia how she still really liked him and didn't enjoy watching him with other people.
Mari said she needed to see Kenny with other women to solidify her own feelings for him and she wished she had never suggested being anything other than exclusive.
But Kenny complained about Mari flip-flopping from one extreme to another.
"I got scared," Mari confessed. "I knew what was there... and I never felt so strongly for someone so soon and... I've been thinking about you this whole time."
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Kenny told the cameras Mari had "hurt" him when she suggested they explore Paradise with other people; however, Kenny said he definitely had "something special" with Mari that didn't exist with Demi or Tia.
Kenny struggled to regain trust in Mari, but he declined going to "The Boom Boom Room" with Demi again, which was a clear indication of which woman had captured his heart at that point.
"I wanted Kenny to fight for me. I wanted to feel solidified with him, but I just feel like he's waiting for Mari," Demi told the cameras.
"He's, like, obsessed with her in some weird, f-cked up way. I did not fight this hard just to be placed in his pocket. That's a sh-t feeling and I feel like an idiot!"
Mari later sat down with Kenny and said she wanted to be with him and her intentions were pure.
"I've been about you the whole entire time," Mari noted, assuring Kenny that she wasn't just after his rose.
Kenny admitted his feelings for Mari were "pretty strong" from the start and he couldn't even explain why. He said there was "something different" about their connection and he never felt this way about a woman before.
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"Why do you want her?! A girl who is stuck-up as f-ck? She's so completely different from me," Demi yelled at Kenny.
"[Mari] thinks her sh-t doesn't stink. She's rude to everyone. So is that what you like or do you like someone like me, who's playful and funny?... She's evil! She's a mean, mean girl. She's a pageant girl!"
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Despite Demi's negative view of Mari, Kenny and Mari proceeded to fall for each other more and more every day in Paradise.
Kenny and Mari then entered "The Boom Boom Room" together so they could take their relationship to the next level and make their connection even stronger.
"Obviously I knew Kenny was hot," Mari gushed.
"I knew I was attracted to him and there's a lot of physical chemistry between the two of us, but just seeing how he's slowly but surely been more expressive about his feelings and opened up to me, he's shown me lots of different sides of him."
Kenny eventually gave Mari his rose and then the pair was able to go out on a date.
Kenny and Mari essentially created edible art by putting tacos all over each other's naked bodies before eating them off. It created a new level of intimacy for the couple, and Mari told the cameras she was "falling in love" with Kenny.
"Mari is the hottest plate I've ever seen. She is a freak. Behind closed doors, you've got to watch out," Kenny disclosed.
Kenny told Mari that it didn't scare him to talk about being together after the show and he'd be willing to talk about getting engaged soon.
"I believe in what we have, and I really do think we're going to be good after this," Mari told Kenny.
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Kenny began considering popping the question, especially since he rarely told women that he loved them in his past.
Mari felt Kenny had swept her off her feet in Paradise, and she said she was "giddy" about what might happen next. The couple ended their date in "The Boom Boom Room."
But it wasn't exactly happily-ever-after from that point on.
After a Rose Ceremony, Kenny seemed a little off, and so Mari asked him what was wrong with only a few days left of the process. Kenny said something emotional was missing between them and he wasn't sure she felt the same way he did.
"If we're going to get engaged, we need to be pretty sure with where we're at, and I'm feeling you're not sure," Kenny admitted.
Kenny said passion was missing in his relationship and Mari wasn't being fully honest about her feelings.
Mari felt blindsided and never saw this coming, especially because Kenny questioned if they should pump the brakes a little bit. Mari realized she had pulled back a little bit and was trying to protect her heart, and she didn't want that to be the case.
However, a spiritual healer later conducted a ritual or ceremony for Kenny and Mari to hopefully break down their walls and bring them closer together, and Thomas pointed out how the couple was very lucky and it was probably the most special thing to happen to anyone in Paradise.
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Kenny wanted to make sure his relationship had passion before getting engaged, and he could feel Mari was "hesitant" with him. However, Mari assured her man that she was falling in love with him and was really happy.
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"I'm all in and I'm excited about it because I've never felt something like this before."
Kenny and Mari determined that they wanted to be with each other, and then they got cozy on a daybed and Kenny felt the pair was back on track and 100 percent honest with each other.
So what happens between Kenny and Mari on the Bachelor in Paradise finale?
According to Reality Steve spoiler blogger Steve Carbone, Kenny and Mari continued to exchange roses in Paradise and stayed together.
After enjoying an overnight Fantasy Suite date, Kenny and Mari ended up in the finale as one of the remaining three couples.
Kenny reportedly proposed marriage to Mari in the end and she accepted the engagement ring.
The couple has also reportedly remained together upon their return to the real world.
In a July 28 blog post, Carbone even revealed he had received a picture from a person who had spotted Kenny and Mari together at a rooftop pool in Chicago, which is where Kenny lives.
ABC has all but confirmed Kenny is one of the bachelors who got engaged
ABC previously aired an extended preview clip of what's to come on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season.
The trailer showed Joe Amabile confessing his love to Serena Pitt, Becca Kufrin calling Thomas Jacobs "too good to be true," and Kenny serving Mari food in bed during what appears to be their overnight Fantasy Suite date.
In addition, the preview flashed a brief clip of a man's hands opening a ring box to display a flashy diamond engagement ring.
That man was clearly Kenny!
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Kenny has a large tattoo on one of his pecks that is a depiction of the American flag with red, white and blue colors -- stars and stripes.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
