The Bachelorette winner Devin Strader has revealed he believes he was Jenn Tran's "second choice" behind Marcus Shoberg, which apparently gives him comfort that dumping Jenn was the right thing to do.
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When Marcus finally gave love and affirmation to Jenn only days before the Final Rose Ceremony, she decided it was too little, too late. She therefore sent Marcus home and decided to focus on her relationship with Devin.
While Jenn ended up proposing marriage to Devin in Hawaii in May, Devin said he doesn't feel like Jenn's real The Bachelorette pick during a 13-minute Instagram video he posted on September 10 to tell his "truth" and dispute "false narratives" he claims Jenn has said about him.
"I had to clearly watch myself play second to someone else," Devin said in the video, hinting that he believes Jenn was more in love with Marcus.
"I wasn't her first choice," he added.
Jenn's The Bachelorette season premiered July 8 on ABC. Devin broke up with Jenn on the phone in early August, and then Jenn's Fantasy Suite with Marcus aired on August 27.
Devin claimed it's "okay" that Jenn appeared to prefer Marcus leading up to their engagement in Hawaii because a relationship takes effort from two people and "that's part of growing together."
Devin reasoned, "I don't fault her for the feelings she had toward Marcus," but he went on to reveal, "I wasn't informed [Jenn had been heavily leaning towards Marcus] -- even during our relationship."
"I was only made aware of [Jenn's strong feelings for Marcus]... after our breakup, almost a month later," Devin recalled.
Devin said it was "hard to go through" all those emotions after parting ways with Jenn.
"At that point in time, I felt like my decisions were reaffirmed in breaking up with her in the first place," Devin noted.
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Devin explained that seeing Jenn and Marcus' love story unfold during The Bachelorette's broadcasts made him feel like he "had made the right choice" in breaking off their engagement.
"So, yeah, maybe I was a little callous leading up to the last couple of weeks to AFR," Devin said, referring to the live The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose special on September 3, when Jenn publicly announced the former couple's split.
"But it wasn't intentional. It wasn't something I was doing out of malice."
Devin said leading up to After the Final Rose, he felt it was "important" to have his "space" as he tried to sort everything out in his mind.
"As hard as moving on from a relationship is, that is a part of life, and I was trying to go through those avenues of life trying to figure things out for myself," Devin explained.
Devin, however, said he and Jenn have since "moved on" from that awkward conversation about Marcus.
Not only did Jenn tell Marcus that she loved him during their Fantasy Suite, but she also admitted to the self-described "torn" and "conflicted" bachelor, "I've been investing so much into you Marcus."
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Jenn's statement seemed to imply that her The Bachelorette journey could be much over if Marcus didn't see a real future with her.
But Jenn came to realize that Devin made her feel safe, loved and prioritized, which is what she had been seeking her entire dating life.
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Devin noted in his lengthy Instagram video, "As much as I care for Jenn, as much as I love Jenn, I really did feel like there was no other choice [but to end it]."
On After the Final Rose, Devin didn't explain why exactly he had fallen out of love with Jenn and broken up with her, except for saying that he "fell short" of her expectations for him in the real world.
"I found myself not being able to live up to the things that you need and deserve," Devin acknowledged.
Devin said he watched Jenn grow leaps and bounds on the show, only to contribute to her "recession." Devin suggested that Jenn was willing to compromise her standards to make him happy and he didn't want her to make those sacrifices for him.
"You have done nothing wrong," Devin said, adding how he had "failed" Jenn.
Jenn recently shared on the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast where she and Devin currently stand, but after Devin leaked dozens of personal text messages between them in his video, she may have a different perspective on that.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
