Bachelor Pad crowned Nick Peterson and Rachel Truehart its winning couple during Monday night's finale broadcast of the third season of The Bachelor reality franchise spinoff in which 15 former bachelor and bachelorettes and five "Super Fans" competed for a $250,000 cash prize.

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Rachel, a former sixteenth-season The Bachelor bachelorette, and Nick, a former seventh-season The Bachelorette bachelor, defeated former eighth-season The Bachelorette bachelor Chris Bukowski and former eleventh-season The Bachelor bachelorette Sarah Newlon to win Bachelor Pad's grand prize.

However, Nick, a 27-year-old trainer from Tampa, FL, was the only real winner of the game, as he decided to keep all the money for himself in the end and leave Rachel, a 27-year-old executive assistant from New York, NY, without cash or a boyfriend.

Nick and Rachel were crowned Bachelor Pad's winning couple based on the 16 votes of the competition's 17 previously-eliminated contestants: former bachelors Ryan Hoag, Ed Swiderski, Tony Pieper, Michael Stagliano, Kalon McMahon, Reid Rosenthal, and former bachelorettes Lindzi Cox, Jaclyn Swartz, Erica Rose, Jamie Otis, and Blakeley Shea. They were also joined by "Super Fans" Chris "SWAT" Bain, David Mallet, Donna Zitelli, Paige Vigil, and twins Brittany Taltos and Erica Taltos -- who had counted as a single vote all throughout the game.

The first of the Final 2 couples to receive nine votes were able to move onto the final round in which the money would or would not be divided up between the male and female champion. Rachel and Nick received votes from everyone expect Kalon, David and Erica. Ryan, the twins, "SWAT," and Paige did not need to reveal their votes due to the fact it was a landslide for Nick and Rachel, but according to Bachelor Pad host Chris Harrison, they had also all voted in Nick and Rachel's favor.

After being declared the winning couple of Bachelor Pad's third season, Rachel said she really trusted Nick, and in the short time they had together, they really came together and formed an awesome friendship in the end. She said she was happy to be up there with him, and in a somewhat telling reply, Nick simply said he believed they were on the same page with little emotion in his voice.

Rachel and Nick were then reminded they each had to privately vote on whether they wanted to split the $250,000 prize with each other since they were partners or attempt to claim all the money for themselves.

If only one of them voted to keep the entire $250,000, then that person would receive the entire amount and the other partner would receive nothing. However, if Rachel and Nick both voted to keep the entire $250,000 for themselves, then neither would receive any of it and the prize would be split among all of Bachelor Pad's previously-eliminated third-season contestants.

Rachel revealed her final decision first, and it was to "share" the money with Nick.

"I came on the show for both the possibility of winning the money and also maybe a chance at love again. There was a time when I thought I was really close to both, and one of them isn't a possibility anymore. I am close to the money right now, but I will say that I didn't come here to win half-a-million. I came here to win, but you can't win without a partner, so I picked 'share,'" Rachel announced.

Nick, however, shocked everyone when he subsequently announced he had opted to "keep" the money for bitter and resentful -- but arguably justified -- reasoning.

"I think it's ironic that no one in the cast, no one sitting in the audience and nobody sitting at home watching this right now ever would have put their money on me to win this... To hear Jaclyn say that I don't deserve to be here and to see Ed say I was just an anonymous guy in the house, like ouch. Thanks, Ed. I was on nobody's radar. Nobody was ever on my team, and I did this all myself. Nobody ever cared how I was going to vote. Nobody ever cared what my plan was. I feel like I'm an outsider and I got here by myself and I did this all by myself. Rachel never wanted to be my partner," Nick explained.

"As a matter of fact, she told me she backed into this partnership, and she tried to leave on me three times knowing it would screw me over, but it didn't matter... Never once, [Rachel], did you say, 'I'm going to stick it out for your sake, Nick.' I had to bring it up. You wanted to do it for Michael, you wanted to talk to Michael and see Michael, and do you know how bad it sucks when you're in the final competition to sing together and you tell me that, 'If Michael and I were in this competition together, we'd win this for sure?' And so, I decided to keep it."

"Are you f-cking kidding me?!" Rachel asked him in disbelief. "I can't even sit here right now. You're f-cking laughing right now? Are you kidding me?! I brought you here. You're here because of me. Yes, hi! You wouldn't have won the final competition without me. You're disgusting. You're a disgusting human being."

"Every one of you [cast members] was here to win $250,000. That's what I was here to win and that's what I won," Nick said, explaining that no one had said they were "that much closer to $125,000" throughout the whole competition.

"I'm devastated right now. I've been through a lot. I thought we formed enough of a trust and a partnership at the end to stand up here and share it," Rachel said in tears.

"But I wanted to be your partner and you didn't want to be mine," Nick stated.

"Are you kidding me?! You got stuck with me just as much as I got stuck with you," Rachel argued. "You never once came up to me asking me to be your partner."

"Well you were in love with Michael, but I was all about it once we were in that position. I said, 'Let's do it, I'm onboard.' And you said, 'I want to go home,'" Nick explained.

The two continued to bicker onstage, and Nick verified he would've been cool splitting the money with a girl given different circumstances, such as if they had a strong relationship brewing or had developed a solid friendship from the very beginning.

"Ugh, you're such a f-cking shmuck. You are disgusting," Rachel said.

"I'm a shmuck with $250,000!" Nick said with a smile.

Nick didn't feel bad, and most of his fellow Bachelor Pad contestants congratulated him on a brilliant, well-played game. Jaclyn and Michael seemed to be the only ones who sympathized with Rachel and felt Nick was acting "cold and mean." Rachel, completely heartbroken and disappointed, just sat onstage and bawled her eyes out.

Afterward, Rachel chased Nick backstage demanding answers. She called him a "pathetic ass and asked him to "man the f-ck up and talk" to her. Rachel wondered why he was so heartless, but Nick assured her everyone agreed with his decision and thought it was a great move to play.

Rachel thought his selfishness was completely ridiculous because she got him to the end. Simply defenseless, Rachel told Nick they had "vowed" to share the money and she had given him her word with the expectation she'd have his in return. While Rachel failed to maintain her composure, Nick laughed all the way to the bank and just said, "With Bachelor Pad, anything goes."

The rest of Bachelor Pad's third-season finale served as a dramatic reunion special for all the castmates.

Kalon and Lindzi are "still going" and they apparently try to spend as much time with each other as possible. Lindzi said Kalon is a "nice, sweet guy" most people didn't have the privilege to get to know, however, Erica seemed to shatter Lindzi's positive perception of Kalon. Erica announced Lindzi needed to be careful because she had spotted Kalon at social events with other girls whom he seemed affectionate with, including one of his ex-girlfriends.

When Chris Harrison sat down with Michael, Michael admitted he wasn't in love with Rachel nor did he want to make a relationship work with her down the road. 

"Did I go on Bachelor Pad looking for a wife? No, because it's Bachelor Pad," Michael said bluntly.

Before Rachel appeared onstage, Jaclyn told Michael he had hurt Rachel very badly. Michael said he and Rachel just had their good weeks and their bad weeks, so it just wasn't enough for him to pursue a long-term long-distance relationship with her.

Jaclyn insisted Michael absolutely led Rachel on, but Michael disagreed. Jaclyn said Michael's relationship with Rachel was a "phony" and full of bullsh-t on his behalf. She also called him out for using the term "girlfriend" when describing Rachel in the past.

While Jaclyn clearly stood up for Rachel, she said Rachel's choice to go after $250,000 instead of showing loyalty to their friendship was unforgivable.

"I just really didn't think she was capable of screwing me over like that," Jaclyn told Chris Harrison, adding that she was still very angry at Rachel.

Despite the drama, Jaclyn -- who said she planned to forgive Rachel but not forget about the incident in which she and Ed were blindsided and eliminated just before the finale -- set out to make one thing clear, that she, not Michael, had been the "puppetmaster" and controlled the entire game.

Although Rachel and Michael's relationship crumbled, one Bachelor Pad relationship took off. Blakeley and Tony made it clear to each other and viewers they had fallen madly in love with one another.

"I've never felt [like this] before, and he just lifted a weight off my shoulders. I completely believed in him and trusted him and he just made everything okay. Sometimes, I feel like it's too good to be true, because I don't know what I did to deserve someone like that. He's amazing, and for him to actually let me be Blakeley, I can actually be me and the real me comes out and I'm not so defensive and my guard doesn't come up," Blakeley told Chris Harrison of Tony.

"Yes, [I'm in love]. It's absolutely for real. I never felt so strong for a person before. With Tony, he relaxes me, he makes me laugh, he makes me smile, he makes me a better person, and I absolutely love him for that. My mom always told me, she was like, 'You'll find it when you least expect it,' and boy, did I least expect this one! I didn't even know where he was in the beginning!"

Tony admitted he had a crush on Blakeley since the start of the competition but got "straight up friend zone" for awhile. But he said he kept being persistent and thankfully came out of the game with the "best thing" he ever could've asked for.

The couple then revealed to Chris Harrison they had a joint announcement to make. Blakeley and Tony explained they had pursued their relationship outside of Bachelor Pad and that Blakeley would be moving to Portland, OR to be closer to him and his son Taylor. But Blakeley was completely unaware that Tony had a surprise announcement of his own to make.

"I'm madly in love with you. This has gone so quick for both of us, but I can't picture you not [being] in my life and I care about you more than anyone I've ever been with. I don't want this to end... I want to show you so bad how much I love you. I want you to be confident in that I'm in this for you and I'm in this forever and I want you to spend the rest of your life with me and Taylor," Tony said.

"Oh my God, are you kidding me?! Are you f-cking kidding me!?" an astonished yet ecstatic Blakeley repeated as Tony got down on one knee.

"Would you make me the happiest man in the entire world, and would you be my wife? Will you marry me Blakeley Shea?" Tony questioned.

"Are you serious?! Absolutely!" Blakeley replied.

The couple then kissed onstage while the crowd and their friends went wild.

Once Chris Harrison introduced Rachel, Nick, Sarah, and Chris onstage, things really began heating up. Rachel said the strong feelings she and Michael felt for each other didn't play out in real life and she was confused. Rachel told Michael he was previously "really into" her and she trusted him with the game and her heart. She then asked Michael to clear everything up for her.

"I liked you and when I kissed you, I wanted to pursue that. I wanted you to be more than a partner, but once I got off [the show], I realized I wasn't falling in love. So doing a long-distance relationship, that's a huge step I wasn't willing to take," Michael told Rachel.

Rachel said she thought she had found something better than money with him. She said she was 100% percent falling in love and originally assumed she'd be in Blakeley and Tony's situation. It was clearly hard for her to accept the fact she and Michael didn't have a future anymore. Michael was convinced he had been honest with her about not wanting to maintain a long-distance or long-term relationship, but Rachel insisted his behavior said otherwise.

Rachel then dropped a bomb and revealed although she and Michael had discussed their relationship in her hotel room following the show's taping, she soon discovered he had been dating a different girl from Chicago, which would be the makings of another long-distance relationship for Michael.

"I know that we've talked the last two months or so, and when we have talked, it has not gone well. I think that's mostly because I wasn't honest and upfront while we were taping the show," Michael explained.

"I just feel really like it's just not the person I was falling for on the show and it's hard to have him be like that towards me," Rachel told Chris Harrison.

"I just don't think there's an easy way to..." Michael started.

"We get it Michael. I get it. You're not making it any easier," Rachel interjected in tears.

It then became time for Chris to talk about his Bachelor Pad experience and attempt to make amends with Jamie, whom he had hurt with his gameplay.

"It's tough watching it on TV. It really is... Jamie, Blakeley, that whole situation that happened is really tough for me, my family, and my friends. It was tough, absolutely. [My family] doesn't have anything good to say," Chris said, adding his family was disappointed and he was reprimanded by his loved ones for his poor behavior.

"The game, it got ahold of me, and it's no excuse to get anyone's feelings hurt, especially to that extent. I don't know. It's not what I intended to do."

Chris was hoping Bachelor Pad would be his ticket to get over Emily Maynard, and he apparently didn't consider people's feelings nor did he know what he was getting himself into. However, Jamie wasn't going to let Chris have the final word.

"All I have to say to you is you claimed you loved Emily so much..." Jamie began.

"I did," Chris firmly suggested.

"And I think Emily's a very fortunate girl -- very wise -- to be able to see right through you. I don't think you'd be any great father for her little daughter Ricki." Jamie said.

"That's unfortunate that you think that way. That's unfortunate that you think that way," Chris noted.

Before voting commenced, Chris Harrison announced the houseguests would have a moment to ask the Final 2 couples questions to help them come to a decision. Rachel apologized to Jaclyn again and said she still felt horrible for her decision to take Chris and Sarah to the end with her and Nick.

Meanwhile, Sarah stood up for Chris and said he was really a sweet, loyal guy. Sarah told everyone she had the utmost confidence in him that he'd want to share the money with her.

But a relentless Jamie still continued to push Chris' buttons. Chris told her that he was truly sorry from the bottom of his heart. While Chris assured Jamie he meant it, Jamie thought he was only saying sorry because he wanted her vote.

"I am sorry, Jamie. I am sorry, I really am. I was crushing on you. I was considering bringing you on that date, I really was. You guys have been firing away at me this whole time, that's fine. I hear it, I hear it from my parents," Chris announced.

"It honestly doesn't hurt as much coming from you guys. I hear it everyday from my parents and my family and I've had enough. I've really had enough. Don't vote for me, vote for Sarah. Vote for her, She did nothing wrong. She played the game. She made it to the end, and she deserves to win, so don't vote for me."

One by one the contestants revealed their votes, determining Rachel and Nick would move onto the next round as the final couple.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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