The Bachelorette alums Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick were both spotted at the NHL Championship Game with their new significant others post-split.
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The NHL's official Instagram account shared photos of many Bachelor Nation alums in attendance at the game on Monday, June 24, such as Peter Weber and Tyler Cameron, but Kaitlyn and Jason being in the same place at the same time sparked the most attention.
Kaitlyn, 39, was flashing a peace sign with her rumored boyfriend, Zac -- who was previously engaged to The Bachelorette 16 star Tayshia Adams -- standing next to her in the stands.
And Jason, 35, was smiling big and standing next to Kat, a TikTok star.
Kaitlyn and Jason, who announced their split after several years together in August 2023, both shared moments from the big event on their respective Instagram Stories, but it remains to be seen if the pair had bumped into each other and spoken at all.
At the end of the night, the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Oilers 2-1.
Kaitlyn, who starred on The Bachelorette's eleventh season, is a huge fan of the Edmonton Oilers and grew up in the Edmonton area. She had posted videos of herself watching Playoff games in her hockey jersey on social media.
While Jason is a Buffalo, NY, native who had lived in Seattle, WA, before settling down in Nashville, TN, Kat was born in Miami, FL, and started a family with her ex-husband, Mike Stickler, in Tampa, FL.
Kat is therefore a Panthers fan, and she proud rocked a red and white jersey at the game.
A potential run-in between Kaitlyn and Jason probably would've been awkward considering Kaitlyn had just opened up about how she felt betrayed by Jason during the June 13 episode of the "Almost Adulting with Violet Benson" podcast.
When asked to describe a moment when she didn't feel like she mattered to a man, Kaitlyn replied, "We'll use my last relationship as an example. And this always feels so silly to say out loud because it's my own sh-t, but it made me feel betrayal, and I think it matters."
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Kaitlyn went on to explain how launching and operating her "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast made her feel special and fulfilled, like she had finally found what she's meant to do with her life.
"[I wanted a guy] who has a regular job and who is established in their own career and they could shine in their world and I can shine in mine," Kaitlyn explained.
Jason, who had competed for Becca Kufrin's heart on The Bachelorette's fourteenth season in 2018, asked Kaitlyn out on their first date in January 2019, and their romance moved quickly.
"And so when I met Jason, it was very much like, 'Oh, no, I'm not going to be an influencer, I work at a bank. I'm VP of this bank and I worked way too hard in school to let all that go. I did nine years of this, I got my MBA, and I'm going back to my regular job,'" Kaitlyn recalled.
"I was like, 'Okay, this is going to work out perfectly. He's a great guy, he doesn't want to be an influencer, he's going to make hay while the sun shines because he was on The Bachelor and he can bring in some cash, but really, he's so established in his bank job that we're going to have our separate lives.'"
But Kaitlyn admitted that Jason had "lost that job" because of her. (Early into Kaitlyn and Jason's romance, she talked about dry humping him during an episode of her podcast, and Jason's boss apparently didn't appreciate reading such headlines about his employee).
Jason had to pivot since he didn't want to suppress Kaitlyn's voice or give up social media entirely. He therefore decided to quit his banking job and move from Seattle to live with Kaitlyn in Nashville in June 2019.
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"I said, 'I'm just going to ask you to please not start a podcast. It feels really important to me, and it's something that makes me feel really special and I'm good at it.' Not everybody had a podcast at the time," Kaitlyn shared.
Jason allegedly obliged at first but then changed his mind.
Kaitlyn claimed that she didn't want to give Jason an ultimatum -- his podcast or their relationship -- but she was hopeful he'd make her the priority and choose her.
"He had said, 'It's not fair if you emotionally and financially stunt my growth,'" Kaitlyn alleged. "And I had a full panic attack in my backyard because I didn't know how to behave. This was before I was on medication for my anxiety too."
Jason currently hosts his "Trading Secrets" podcast, and he also recently released a book titled Talk Money To Me.
Kaitlyn added, "I felt like I wasn't chosen and that my feelings were not worth over money for him... So I was like, 'Is [Jason] going to hang on until he gets to the point where he wants it in his career and then I'm going to be disposable?'"
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The former Dancing with the Stars winner vented, "[Jason was like], 'It doesn't matter. For me, professionally, financially, personally -- it is for my growth, and I'm going to choose that.'"
"And who am I to say 'no' to that? But it did create this resentment and betrayal feeling and it kind of happened a little bit behind my back where it was like, 'By the way, I am starting a podcast.' And I was like, 'What?'"
Kaitlyn admitted she was "so sad" because she didn't think she'd be able to grow with this new version of Jason, with whom she adopted two dogs and got engaged in May 2021.
"I felt like I lost the version of somebody I thought I was going to marry," Kaitlyn confessed. "I want us to choose ourselves but also choose each other."
Once Kaitlyn and Jason announced their split in August 2023, Kaitlyn was photographed on New Year's Eve with Zac.
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"I don't want to dismiss that he's hurting," Kaitlyn shared. "The word disappointment keeps coming up. I feel so disappointed that someone could use a false narrative, like, a false narrative accusation to garner sympathy for themselves."
Rumors then swirled in March 2024 that Jason had moved on with Kat, who was a guest on Jason's "Trading Secrets" podcast earlier this year.
The Bachelorette 14 alum and Kat made multiple public appearances together in April and May before confirming their relationship via Instagram on June 12.
Kaitlyn took to Instagram Stories to express how she was feeling on June 13, and she vented, "People make me f-cking sick... IF YOU ONLY KNEW."
Kaitlyn later followed that up with a third post via Instagram Stories in which she continued, "What people will do for attention is making me want to exit the Internet forever."
The former The Bachelorette star set her post to "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived," which appeared to be a jab at Jason.
The song "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" is about betrayal and a deceitful partner who had pretended to be something he's not.
The Bachelorette alum first commented on Jason and Kat's Instagram-official announcement by writing on a Facebook group designed to support her "Off the Vine" podcast.
A Facebook user wrote, "We need to let go of the narrative that KB is hurt/saddened by Jason's relationship. She has very clearly moved on. And truthfully, based on some of her cryptic comments, there's no love lost on her part."
Kaitlyn replied, "It's more of some held on anger and resentment that I'm working through!!! Not hurt."
Kaitlyn thanked those who had written kind words to her, but she also slammed trolls who had suggested Jason's new romance probably wouldn't upset her since she appears to be dating Zac, with whom she's been spotted in public multiple times since their relationship made headlines in January.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
