Raven Gates truly believed that she’d be Mrs. Viall one day. The season 21 Bachelor runner-up opened up about her heartbreak in a joint interview with ex Nick Viall during the After the Final Rose special following the finale on Monday, March 13. Watch the video above.
“I was realistic with another person being there, but I was also very confident in what we had because we were so fun-loving, had such a great time with each other. I think maybe a lot of people thought that I was naive, but I wasn’t,” Gates, 25, told host Chris Harrison. “I think Nick and I were on the same page and had conversations about how hard it would be to be in a relationship in general.”
Viall, 36, said goodbye to Gates during the Bachelor finale before proposing to Vanessa Grimaldi. On Monday night, Gates explained why she didn’t show a lot of emotion when Viall broke up with her.
“In that moment I was so stoic because I was trying to process what you were saying and just accept it. I know it’s not a normal reaction, but it was the best way to process it,” she said.
Viall completely understood. After all, he knows what it’s like to get dumped on national TV. He previously placed second in Andi Dorfman‘s and Kaitlyn Bristowe’s 2014 and 2015 Bachelorette seasons.
“Having gone through it, there certainly was no judgment with that,” he said while sitting next to Gates on ATFR. “For me, I feel like I understand — I knew what I was doing to you and it tore me up inside, so I never gave [your reaction] a second thought.”
Gates chimed in: “I wanted to be so optimistic in what we had. I was always optimistic. I definitely thought I was going to get engaged that day. I think you can see on my face how shocked I was.”
The Arkansas native might not be single for long, though. Gates will next join the season 4 cast of Bachelor in Paradise.
