The Bachelorette alum Michael Allio has appeared to soft launch a new relationship after his split from Danielle Maltby.
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"Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays friends," he added. "Here's to the best year yet. #merrychristmas #happyholidays #newyear."
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In the video, Michael and his eight-year-old son James -- whom Michael welcomed with his late wife Laura Allio, who passed away in 2019 following a battle with breast cancer -- were decorating their Christmas tree.
At one point, a woman with long reddish-brown hair, which was curled into big waves, stepped into the scene and helped put ornaments on the colorful tree.
However, her face was not shown, and Michael chose not to reveal her identity in his post.
Michael's apparently relationship teaser was met with mixed reviews from his followers on Instagram.
"You are deceiving us," one troll wrote in part, before hinting to how he had broken Danielle's heart.
"Keep that young man smiling!!!!!!!!!!!! You couldn't handle yourself the first time bringing someone into your life -- being selfish and not focusing on what you should be. I think I know who you are seeing -- perhaps this time you will be smart and not selfish."
But one woman gushed, "Loooooove seeing you and your son happy."
Many fans speculated in the comments that Michael is dating The Bachelor alum Sam Jeffries.
"I'm thinking the mystery woman is @samcjeffries," one person wrote.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"Me too," another follower agreed. "He likes ALL of her posts."
And a third Instagram user commented, "Anyone else think @samcjeffries when you saw the reddish brownish hair or just me?"
Sam had competed on The Bachelor's 26th season starring Clayton Echard followed by an appearance on Bachelor in Paradise's ninth season in 2023.
Michael, for his part, appeared on Katie Thurston's season of The Bachelorette. After claiming to have turned down a starring role on The Bachelor, Michael looked for love on Bachelor in Paradise's eighth season, where he met Danielle.
Danielle was smitten with Michael, a widower and business owner from Akron, OH, when the pair appeared on Bachelor in Paradise in 2022, and they left the season dating and in a relationship.
Danielle moved from Nashville, TN -- where she had lived for 12 years -- to Cleveland, OH, to be with Michael and James in February 2023, but Michael announced their split in September of that year, claiming he and Danielle weren't compatible.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
Danielle revealed on her "The WoMed" podcast that Michael "blindsided" and brutally dumped her one day after she had frozen her eggs. She said the breakup left her "hurt" and "confused" as well as overcome with grief.
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She added, "It's become such a thing in The Bachelor world to make a joint statement [when you split up], but there was nothing joint about this. I didn't decide it."
Danielle confessed that she "was in the trenches for a few months" after Michael broke up with her.
"I was in, like, constant communication with my therapist. Now, though, I've done so much healing," Danielle said.
And part of her journey to healing was accepting Cleveland as her new home, even though she had left her nursing job and friends behind in Nashville to become a part of Michael's life in Ohio.
"I didn't necessarily choose this place," Danielle admitted, "but I wanted to make it feel like home. It was like, 'Well, I'm here, so I now need to take my life back.'"
Most of Danielle's followers anticipated she'd move back to Nashville, but Danielle said she was ready and willing to embrace Cleveland as her new city, regardless of the fact she's single again.
"I just want to help empower anyone who's in a similar situation," Danielle shared, adding that she's "grateful" for her stints on reality TV because she now has a platform to share her opinions.
Danielle credited her co-workers at The Skin Center, a medical spa, for helping her discover what Cleveland has to offer her.
"I'm someone who has always gone where life takes me, and I'm always open to an adventure," she noted.
Danielle has also overcome some major adversity in her life.
When Danielle was 25-years-old, she found the body of her then-boyfriend who had just overdosed on drugs in 2011. She had to resuscitate him and witness his death, which left her with a lot of trauma to carry and deal with.
But according to The Bachelor alum, her most recent ex-boyfriend -- presumably Michael -- made her feel like she was weak.
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"I just laughed because that's the last thing anybody would say about me. I've been through so much, and I'm still so hopeful."
Former The Bachelor star Nick Viall, for instance, called Danielle "resilient" when she competed on his season in 2017.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
In response to Danielle's allegation Michael had brutally dumped her and "traumatized" her, Michael confirmed on Jason Tartick's "Trading Secrets" podcast in September 2023 that he didn't warn Danielle ahead of time about how he was feeling and so she never saw the split coming.
"[But] there's a reason why. We broke up 13 weeks ago and over the span of that 13 weeks, we spoke multiple times about how we want to roll this out," Michael explained at the time.
"I suggested doing a mutual breakup post, but she did not want to do that mainly because this breakup was not mutual. She told me, 'Go out there, say what you want to say, do what you want to do. I'll follow suit.'"
According to The Bachelorette alum, Danielle asked him not to call or contact her because staying in communication would make healing and moving on "that much more difficult."
However, Michael claimed that he was not quick to throw in the towel, and that he and Danielle had attended couples' therapy to try to salvage their relationship.
"She wanted me to wait [to announce the breakup] and I felt, like, because I was the one that broke it off with her, I should be respectful of that. So, I kind of waited for her lead and when she started taking down posts on Instagram, I kind of followed suit," Michael said.
Michael also wrote via Instagram Stories at the time, "[If] there's something that you're looking for that doesn't exist in that other person, it doesn't mean you try to change that person and turn them into this perfect version for you because that's wrong too."
Given Michael was clearly having doubts about his future with Danielle, a fan asked Michael to explain why he didn't stop Danielle from quitting her job in Nashville and moving to his home state in order to progress their relationship.
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Michael claimed he "totally" would have considered moving to Nashville if he didn't have a child to raise.
"Danielle was in a transition period and she wanted to leave her job," Michael said, adding how Danielle had been thinking about moving to Ohio for reasons other than their post-Bachelor in Paradise romance.
"If we would have stayed long distance we wouldn't have known whether or not this would have worked, and our goal was to make it work."
Michael also claimed via Instagram Stories at the time that before Danielle moved to Ohio, he told her that he couldn't fathom having another child.
Michael said he warned Danielle that he might never want kids and she handled the news "gracefully" and proceeded to freeze her eggs just in case he changed his mind down the road.
Prior to Michael's breakup announcement, split rumors had plagued the couple for months, and they both dodged talking about their relationship in the media.
On the former couple's Bachelor in Paradise season, Michael and Danielle revealed they had spoken via DMs on Instagram and become friends prior to filming the show, but Paradise marked the first time they were meeting in-person.
Michael and Danielle were able to connect quickly over their similar losses and traumas. The pair slowly got to know each other and never expressed interest in dating anyone else on the show.
Michael and Danielle chose to leave Bachelor in Paradise together as a couple before overnight Fantasy Suites. They both determined they weren't ready to get engaged, especially because Danielle had yet to meet James.
However, Michael revealed on the reunion show in November 2022 that James quickly came to adore Danielle, and that Danielle couldn't wait to become a bigger part of James' life.
Michael also announced on the reunion show that he was "in love" with Danielle and she had changed his life for the better. Danielle is only the second woman whom Michael ever said, "I love you," to.
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"I'm just so excited," Michael said on social media in December 2022 of Danielle's decision to uproot her life for him.
"Long distance is difficult, but we've made the best of it and this next chapter and upcoming year is one I am so looking forward to. She's the best!"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
