While Michelle Young went on to be the leading woman on her season of The Bachelorette and ultimately chose Nayte Olukoya, she caught viewers’ attention long before that.
As a contestant on Matt James’ season of The Bachelor, fans fell in love with the sweet elementary school teacher and felt her heartbreak as Matt broke up with her before choosing Rachael Kirkconnell as his winner.
While Michelle did go on and find love herself and is still engaged to the man she chose, it was still a bit strange for her when she recently ran into Matt and his girlfriend, Rachael.
Where did Michelle Young and Matt James run into each other for the first time since the show was filmed?
Michelle hadn’t seen Matt in person since his season of The Bachelor had been filmed, so it was awkward when she and Nayte came in contact with her ex and his significant other at the Final Four women’s tournament games up in Minnesota.
While on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast with her co-host Becca Kufrin, Michelle dished more on this encounter during this week’s episode.
Michelle revealed to Becca that she knew it was inevitable that she and Matt would run into each other at some point. She said that it wasn’t totally weird to run into Rachael because the two still keep in touch a bit.
However, Michelle did say, “But I was really surprised that we ran into them in Minnesota. That is the last place I thought we’d bump into them. We’ve been to New York and L.A. so much that we thought those were the places we might see them, so it caught me off guard to see them in Minnesota.”
She said that it must have caught everyone off guard because all the people around them had their phones out to gauge the reaction and document the surprise meet-up.
Michelle, Matt, and their significant others ended up getting along well
Michelle said that although it was a shock to see them at first, albeit in her hometown of all places, it was actually really great to see them, and they had fun together.
In fact, she told Becca and listeners, “We were all laughing. It was fun! And Nayte gets along with everybody, so it wasn’t awkward or anything like that.”
While Michelle and Nayte have had a fairly smooth run since Michelle’s season of The Bachelorette was filmed and aired, it wasn’t quite so drama-free for Matt and Rachael.
Actually, the two were broken up for a while during the airing of the season due to some racially insensitive incidences in Rachael’s past that made Matt question everything.
However, after a lot of work personally and together as a couple, they have reconciled and seem better and happier than ever. For more on this episode with Michelle and Becca, click here for the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast.
Bachelor Nation wishes both couples the best of luck in their relationships moving forward!
The Bachelorette premieres Monday, July 11th, on ABC.