Take it from Juan! Former Bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis shared some words of wisdom with his successor Chris Soules and season 19 winner Whitney Bischoff after the series finale aired on Monday, Mar. 9.
The much-hated season 18 Bachelor, 33, took to his Twitter after the eventful revelation (and dual Bachelorette announcement!) to congratulate his fellow reality stars on their engagement. However, Galavis’ message was accompanied by a healthy dose of well, reality, based on his own personal experience with his ex-girflriend Nikki Ferrell.
BEST wishes to @C_Soules and @whitbisch, NOW is when it gets REAL… #Congrats ????
— Juan Pablo Galavis™ (@JuanPaGalavis) March 10, 2015
During Galavis’ tumultuous season, the Venezuelan former soccer pro emerged as the most polarizing Bachelor ever. Galavis memorably refused — on live television during the After the Final Rose special — to say “I love you” to his final pick Ferrell. In the months following, that pattern continued and the couple even consulted VH1’s Couples Therapy to work out their issues. Ultimately, the pediatric nurse and sports consultant split this past October.
“It’s not from a lack of trying on either side,” Ferrell told Chris Harrison in January. “I tried really hard and he tried too…. I wasn’t going to quit. I’m not a quitter. I tried everything, he tried, too. It wasn’t just a one-side thing… we real-life tried, not TV-tried.”
A source previously told Us Weekly that while Ferrell’s intentions were more pure, Galavis simply stayed with the Missouri native, 28, to “spite all the haters who thought they would break up.” Another insider, meanwhile, said their relationship was not meant to last as the two shared conflicting ideas about their future.
“Everything Nikki wanted, he didn’t,” another source previously told Us. “She wanted to settle down and he didn’t.”
Neither Soules nor Bischoff has replied to Galavis, but the couple appeared on Good Morning America on Tuesday to say they were looking forward to life after The Bachelor.
“I think right now we’re really excited to just start our life as a normal couple in the real world,” Bischoff noted, while her new fiancé added: “Going to a movie in public. That’d be pretty cool.”
