Not meant to be. While Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth had a whirlwind romance on her season of The Bachelorette, the pair had their ups and downs before they ultimately called it quits.
The duo met on season 11 of the ABC dating series in 2015. Booth ended up as a finalist alongside Nick Viall. Ultimately, Bristowe selected the fitness trainer as her winner and the pair got engaged. On the show, Bristowe had feelings for both the Connecticut native and “The Viall Files” podcast host (who joined midway through the season), but while appearing on a July 2017 episode of the “Mouthing Off With Olivia Caridi podcast” she admitted she only had eyes for Booth early on.
“I actually thought I knew night one and I just hoped from that moment on. I think I made the mistake of admitting it was him from night one [to producers],” she said at the time. “I said right away, ‘Game over. It’s that guy, no questions.’”
Throughout their relationship, the pair didn’t shy away from discussing why they were not in a rush to tie the knot.
“We came off the show and into our engagement and have really just been taking things stride by stride,” Booth exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2018. “We have our own stride with how we want to take our relationship from the show out into the real world and it really has been an adjustment. But we’ve always been on the same page. We click like that. We’ve been normal and want to keep that normalcy.”
Later that year, however, rumors began to swirl that the twosome had called it quits when the Spade and Sparrows founder was spotted without her wedding ring on numerous occasions. In November 2018, Us confirmed the pair split after three years.
“After three incredible years, we have decided to go our separate ways. This difficult decision comes after thoughtful, respectful consideration,” a joint statement from the former couple read at the time. “Even though we are parting as a couple, we’re very much committed to remaining friends. We have both evolved as people, which is taking us in different directions, but with the hope that we will continue to support each other in new ways. Due to the nature of how we met, our relationship has always been very public, and we have enjoyed sharing it with all of you, but we ask that you respect our decision and our privacy at this time.”
Following their split, Bristowe moved on with Bachelor Nation alum Jason Tartick, whom she rooted for as he appeared on Becca Kufrin’s season. The two met when he was a guest on her podcast in January 2019 and the Buffalo native asked her out on a date shortly after.
Booth, for his part, opened up to Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti about seeing his former fiancé move on so quickly.
“[I’m] trying to understand things right now. I guess this goes with her new relationship too. It just kind of makes me question everything that we’ve had,” the Boothcamp Gym owner said during a January 2019 episode of the “Almost Famous: In Depth” podcast. “So I think that’s one of the major questions that runs through my mind — just trying to understand that, which I think is tough to understand.”
In February 2023, the former Bachelorette revealed that Booth’s ego and jealousy of Viall were some of the main reasons why their relationship struggled.
“To come out of [The Bachelorette] and actually have confidence in your love would be really challenging. … As much as that pissed me off and I wanted to be like, ‘Get over it.’ I also was like, ‘I would be really insecure too,’” Bristowe recalled on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “He went through some really tough stuff as a kid and didn’t trust people. So I try and look at it from that perspective. He did some really hurtful things to me, and I did some hurtful things to him and I don’t know it’s just it’s a really tough show to come out of and have a healthy relationship.”
Scroll down to revisit Bristowe and Booth’s relationship and the aftermath of their split:
