The Bachelorette couple Michelle Young and Nayte Olukoya have reunited with a familiar face -- Michelle's third-place finisher on Season 18, Joe Coleman!
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The trio spent New Year's Eve together and documented parts of their happy celebration on Instagram.
Michelle posted a selfie with Nayte and the former college basketball player on Saturday, January 1 via Instagram Stories and all three of them were smiling big.
While Michelle curled into Nayte's chest for the photo, Joe stood closely behind them and flashed a peace sign.
For Nayte's part, he posted a video of himself dancing with Joe on New Year's Eve in Joe and Michelle's hometown of Minneapolis, MN.
Joe later shared Nayte's footage and wrote in the caption, "The boy," along with a bottle-of-champagne emoji.
Nayte previously teased his reunion with Joe when the Canada native commented on Joe's December 22 Instagram post.
"Ayyyyye! Much luv bro! See you soon!" Nayte wrote.
In his post, Joe -- who appeared devastated when Michelle had broken up with him on the show after Fantasy Suite dates -- took a moment to reflect back on his televised journey to find love.
"Wow, I really don't know where to even start. Thank you #bachelornation for all the love and support through this journey. You ALL are amazing," Joe, a real estate developer, wrote a few days shy of Christmas.
"Going on the show was one thing, but being able to film in my home state and city of Minneapolis was surreal. It was an honor and privilege to be on the cast, I hope I made MN proud."
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Joe also expressed "appreciation" for everything that goes into making a reality show.
"Shout out to all the producers who worked their asses off through it all. Your effort definitely didn't go unnoticed," Joe continued in his post.
"To the handlers, I appreciate all the things you did for me, making sure I had my snacks, drinks, or making sure I found some gym time. Shout out to the camera crew and audio team for working your magic y'all don't get enough love. And shout out to [Tayshia Adams] and [Kaitlyn Bristowe] for killing it as co-hosts."
Joe then addressed Michelle's other The Bachelorette suitors by writing, "And to the boys, thank you! I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to go on this wild ride with such high quality men."
"Y'all made the process so much easier," Minnesota Joe gushed. "What a crazy experience to be a part of, I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else. It's been real, thank you again bach nation!"
After Joe got eliminated in third place on The Bachelorette's eighteenth season, Michelle dumped her runner-up Brandon Jones and got engaged to Nayte in the finale that aired last month.
Not long after their engagement aired on ABC, Michelle and Nayte spent Christmas together in Minnesota, where Michelle works as an elementary school teacher.
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And Nayte uploaded the same photos on his own Instagram account and wrote at the time, "Believe it or not, but I had to drag Michelle's cute butt to go take a picture with Santa."
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Nayte also wished his fans a jolly holiday, writing, "Merry Christmas everyone!!!"
Michelle gushed to People in December 2021 about how she and Nayte "have fun together" and can have deep conversations about controversial issues and more.
"We vent to each other, we check each other and make sure that we're positive," Michelle said. "We dance, sing, goof around, all of it."
Nayte echoed that sentiment and noted how their relationship just "flows" effortlessly.
"I've never met anybody even, like, remotely close to him because he just has so many layers," Michelle shared of her fiance. "And even now, like on a daily basis, I'm like, 'What did I do to deserve this? How did I get lucky?'"
"He tells me how he feels about me every day, multiple times," she added.
Nayte revealed on The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose that he'll be moving to Minnesota in the next couple or few months and the lovebirds have already begun house-hunting.
In fact, The Bachelor family gifted Michelle and Nayte a down payment on their first house together. (Michelle was caught whispering to Nayte that the check was for $200,000).
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Michelle shared with People, "I fall more in love every day."
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And Nayte believes their relationship is going to last because they have the type of love everyone searches for.
"Every day, we'll just catch each other in just this, like, flow of emotion," Nayte shared.
"It's just like, 'Holy crap, we are each other's. This is our life. This is actually forever.' We actually have a connection that is forever."
The couple also said they plan to marry in "the near future," maybe Summer 2022.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
