It's no secret that The Bachelor franchise relies on more than a little emotional exploitation

For the first time ever, The Bachelor host Chris Harrison’s standard last-episode warning that this would be “the most dramatic finale” yet proved to be true. However, Monday night’s episode began with another announcement: “I know this isn’t going to be a popular decision, but it’s worth it to me,” explained this season’s much-maligned Bachelor, Arie Luyendyk Jr.

The former race car driver was referring to a rumour that had been circulating for months: that he would be taking back his proposal to winning contestant Becca K. and instead pursue runner-up Lauren B. But before we could bear witness to the impending break-up, viewers had to first watch the ill-fated proposal, for which Arie weighed his decision by repeatedly referring to Becca K. as the “comfortable” option and Lauren B. as the more “intense” love. (Oh, foreshadowing – that a reality television device by any other name would be so sweet.)

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Despite declaring his love for both women – rarely a good foundation for a marriage in the annals of Bachelor history or elsewhere – Arie eventually proposed to Becca K., and she happily accepted. While other seasons of the franchise would come to a conclusion at this point, viewers were gifted one of the more dramatic scenes – and certainly most awkward – in Bachelor history, as we watched Arie visit Becca K. under the pretence of a romantic date some time later. In their testimonials before this date, she gushed that she couldn’t wait to start her life with him, while he had this to say: “I go to bed and I think about Lauren, and I wake up and I think about Lauren.”

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He arrived with a camera crew in tow – somehow, without tipping her off to the relationship’s impending doom – then sat her down on the couch and promptly broke up with her as she looked on in total bewilderment. “The reality of it is that, being with you, although it’s been everything that I wanted, I’m still thinking of her,” he declared. “And I think you sense that. I think, for me, the more I hung out with you, the more I was losing the possibility of reconciling things with Lauren. This is obviously a shock for you and you’ve always said, ‘Guide your heart and figure out where your heart is.’ I’ve got to follow my heart.”

In response, Becca K. simply asked, “Are you f–king kidding me?”

It’s no secret that The Bachelor franchise relies on more than a little emotional exploitation. Competitions for a marriage proposal – after a mere two months of “dating” – tend not to bring out the best in people. Nonetheless, the sort of exchange that happened on this season’s finale was unlike anything that came before it – and ABC executives milked it for all that it was worth. The episode extended this five minutes of confrontation into a “raw” half-hour of emotional torture and to great success – it was the biggest ratings spike all season.

As Arie continued to attempt to broach the subject and ignite television-worthy fireworks from his former flame – because the split-screen treatment to catch every tear wasn’t enough – Becca K., along with the television audience at home, grew increasingly uncomfortable. After finally having enough of his attempts to come out of this looking like the good guy, she said, “I hope you find what you want – clearly not me.” She then further instructed him, “Don’t touch me!”

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As she then took emotional refuge and barricaded herself inside the nearest washroom, Arie wearily eyed the very camera crew she was trying to escape as if lazily pleading for help, repeatedly knocking on the bathroom door despite her repeated assertions that he “go away!”

Moments like this are what you should want in a reality series – waterworks, drama, heartbreak, a shocking twist at the end. It was supposed to be an extra satisfying Hail Mary catch for one of the franchise’s blandest seasons yet. But, instead, it was miserable watching a woman have her heart broken so unexpectedly. The best form of schadenfreude – the one that good reality television offers – occurs when a villain gets his or her comeuppance. Becca K. was no villain. The heel in this tragedy was a cheap and shabby imitation of a romantic hero, too stupid to be anything other than assured that he was in the right; convinced he was just doing what he had to in order to find love (or lust).

According to the spin-off gossip industry that thrives around The Bachelor franchise, Arie did indeed go running back into the arms of Lauren B. He was spotted outside of her home in Virginia Beach with production vans, presumably to ask for her back. And in a needless part two of the finale on Tuesday, we saw him propose to her live (to a light smattering of applause) after once again apologizing to Becca K., who was then triumphantly announced as the next Bachelorette. Fans of the franchise have been showing their support by not only buying billboards across California to shame Arie , but actively sending Becca K. wine money through Venmo to ease the pain.

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And maybe a lot of wine and “another shot at love” is the best that Becca K. could’ve hoped for.

After the first part of the finale aired, former contestant Bekah Martinez – the youngest woman to be in the running to woo Arie’s heart at 23 – revealed he had flirtatiously direct messaged her several times after production, at one point telling her she was born the same year he had his first threesome. It was Martinez who perhaps summed up this season best when she tweeted that Arie is “the biggest f–king tool I’ve ever seen. Becca is a queen. A goddess. Thank the LORD he’s out of her life.”

Indeed. Until next season.