Ben Higgins is no longer a bachelor. The reality star proposed to his girlfriend Jessica Clarke on March 27, 2020, in his hometown of Franklin, Tenn. The bride-to-be shared photos of the proposal on Instagram. “I don’t remember everything she said, but I know I said yes,” she subtitled her post. “Today I woke up in a dream and from now on I will live this dream every day (eeeep)”.

The favorite of the franchise Bachelor told Entertainment Tonight that originally intended to propose in New York City, but “everything has changed” due to the coronavirus epidemic. The couple initially self-quarantined with his parents in Indiana, but apparently they all went to Tennessee to include his family at the special time. “I proposed to her and her family and mine were watching from afar, and then we all celebrated together,” she said.

Before he asked the question, Higgins would start crying, which would have worried Jessica very much. As Ben recalled, “She said it was one of two things: either I was finishing our relationship, which would have been a huge shock… or I was proposing to her. Thankfully, this story has a happy ending, but let’s take a closer look at its beginning.

The Bachelor: Ben Higgins slid into Jessica’s DMs

Ben Higgins opened up about the origins of his relationship with Jessica Clarke during an episode of The Ben & Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast in February 2019. Here’s how it is: Higgins was in Nashville in August 2018 for a charity event and, while he was checking in, he noticed “big dudes” that clearly looked like athletes checking in too. Higgins decided to jump on Instagram to try to figure out what the sports team in town was, looking at the most important places connected to his location.

Well, thank goodness Ben didn’t just Google him, because while he was at the Gram, Jessica’s picture appeared in his feed because she was at the nearby Nashville Predators hockey game with her father. “I was scrolling and I saw this picture and I thought, ‘Holy cow, this girl is beautiful,” he said. Mind you, Jess wasn’t the blue-check-mark-mark type, but she caught Higgins’ attention and he liked her comments on social media. And what did he do? He took a screenshot of his post… and then he waited months until Thanksgiving, 2018, to contact her. He says he’ll explain how he found her profile later, but first, “if you’re single, please respond to the message,” he said.

The Bachelor: Jessica Clarke had no clue who Higgins was

Jessica Clarke had no idea who Ben Higgins was when she posted his messages on Instagram. In fact, she told The Ben & Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast that she wasn’t even a fan of the Bachelor franchise and had initially ignored his ticket to her. When she finally checked it out, she thought it was “hilarious” and “very cute”, but she still didn’t realize she was contacted by a guy who starred in The Bachelor and got engaged to another reality TV star, Lauren Bushnell. This memorable reality television couple even had their own show called Ben and Lauren, Happily Ever After?, before canceling the wedding in 2017. This has made national news, people!

But the University of Mississippi grad, apparently, knew nothing about it. Ben always makes fun of me, because before we told anyone we were dating, I thought. It’s no big deal.” I didn’t understand at all,” he told the podcast.

Over time, Jessica began to realise how much The Bachelor fans are really interested in their relationship. “There’s this outside world that’s part of our lives,” Ben said. “In a way I threw both of us into it because I started sharing my journey years ago, but that doesn’t affect our daily lives very often. And she was also accepted into the family. The Bachelor family has been really great for her,” she said, including longtime landlord Chris Harrison.