Rachael Kirkconnell and Matt James appeared in an Instagram photo with After the Final Rose host Emmanuel Acho, and things looked much less awkward than the last time they were all together.
All three had big smiles on their faces and were attending UFC 268 Fight Night, though it’s not clear if they arrived together or bumped into each other.
Emmanuel posted a slideshow of pictures from the night, along with a video and photos from the live After the Final Rose special he hosted that featured a very uncomfortable confrontation between Matt and Rachael.
Emmanuel captioned the slideshow, “Nothing made me happier than seeing @mattjames919 & @rachaelkirkconnell together last night. I haven’t seen these 2 since we walked off the @bachelorabc stage nearly 250 days ago. We’ve cried together and we’ve laughed together, but it was all smiles this time around! Mi familia.”
Matt and Rachael have been through a lot since The Bachelor aired
The pair have been through a ton of drama since Matt’s season of The Bachelor was airing, after photos came out showing Rachael at an Antebellum-themed frat party in 2018.
While the show was still airing, headlines were dropping everywhere criticizing Rachael for her actions, and it was even worse due to the fact that Matt James is Black.
Things got heated when Chris Harrison seemingly defended Rachael while doing an interview on Extra with Rachel Lindsay.
He claimed people “need to have a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion.” He later continued, “Is it [not] a good look in 2018 or is it not a good look in 2021?” (This was the part a majority of people took major issue with.)
Chris Harrison lost his hosting gig with The Bachelor after the fallout
Chris lost his hosting gig with The Bachelor, which is why Emmanuel Acho was filling in for him during the sit-down interview with Rachael and Matt on After the Final Rose.
All of this drama went down before the finale even aired, which meant audiences watched as Matt James chose Rachael, despite everything we knew in the future.
According to Us, Matt initially stuck by Rachel’s side, however, they allegedly split after her first Instagram apology on February 11.
During the live After the Final Rose, viewers found out the pair had split, with Rachael claiming she had been, “blindsided.”
She continued, “But once that initial reaction went away, I thought about, you know, how strong I thought our relationship was. So for him to end things, like, he must have been very, very hurt by everything. It was hard, because I lost the love of my life.”
Matt and Rachael got back together after all the drama
Despite Matt claiming on Good Morning America in March that he had no plans to reconcile with Rachael, the pair were spotted together in New York City in April.
Though there were rumors Matt was talking to another girl, he told People that same month, “I’m not pursuing any relationships right now outside of that. I said I was going to focus on my relationship with her and that means focusing on it.”
Since then, Matt and Rachael have been on a whirlwind tour of activities and traveling, visiting Aspen, going to awards shows, and apparently attending UFC fight night.
The Bachelor is currently on hiatus.