Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi did not appear happy together on The Bachelor: After the Final Rose despite their engagement, and Bachelor Nation certainly noticed.

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When Nick and his fiancee were finally able to go public with their romance and gush about their love on Monday night, the couple took the opposite approach and discussed their relationship's many "struggles" and "challenges" over the last several months.

Nick could barely break a smile, while Vanessa seemed to try her best to come across perky and pleased.

"What's the winner going to do with her time this summer while nick is filming BIP? #TheBachelorFinale," Season 17 The Bachelor star Sean Lowe tweeted last night. "To the future final two, if the sun isn't setting, beat him to the punch and break up with him first. #TheBachelorFinale."

"This is so real it's kinda depressing. #TheBachelorFinale," tweeted Sean's The Bachelor winner and now-wife Catherine Giudici.

"The vibe of the whole room at After the Final Rose right now is so serious and strange feeling. No? #TheBachelorFinale," wrote Jade Roper, who competed for Chris Soules' heart on The Bachelor and then got engaged to Tanner Tolbert on Season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise.

"Wtf is going on? This is all making me very uncomfortable. #thebachelorette #fakenews?" tweeted JP Rosenbaum, who is married to former The Bachelorette star Ashley Hebert.

"I am always hopeful for happy endings, especially when it comes to my #bachelornation family, but @VanessaGrimaldi doesn't seem happy?" Season 1 The Bachelorette star Trista Rehn wrote on Twitter.

Viewers also recognized the obvious tension between Nick and Vanessa on After the Final Rose -- or at least their lack of chemistry and affection for one another. Twitter users commented on Nick and Vanessa's "pretend love" as well as their "awkward" and "miserable" reunion. One fan went as far as to say it looked like the pair hated each other.

One person tweeted that "Raven was happier to be dumped than Vanessa is to get engaged."

"[Vanessa] is very much looking forward for this to be over," Nick told People. "It was very difficult for us as a couple at the end."

Nick and Vanessa explained they are still getting to know each other and "have a long way to go" because no relationship is perfect.

"I hope we came across as in love and passionate tonight," Nick told People of the Season 21 The Bachelor finale. "The reality is -- we joke about it, but it's true -- we don't know what it's like to go to the movies together, we don't know what it's like to spend time together in the real world. Our relationship has been based off of stressful situations."

"I feel like it's been on standstill for a little bit. I'm ready to move forward," Vanessa added.

Despite the negative commentary from critics who are questioning Nick and Vanessa's love for one another, the pair intend to remain positive going forward.

"You can never make people happy. At the end of the day, we are focusing on our relationship," Vanessa explained to the magazine. "It's easy to focus on the negative, which sometimes I do, and Nick tries to get me out of it. But it's the world that we're living in."


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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