Congratulations, Bachelor Nation — we’ve officially made it through one of the craziest years the franchise has undoubtedly ever seen.
2022 started off strong, having left many viewers with open-jawed expressions while staring at their television screens during the finale of The Bachelor.
Luckily for fans, it didn’t get any less crazy when The Bachelorette came along and brought just as much heat in the later months.
And, for the Bachelor world to one-up itself, even more, Bachelor in Paradise this fall was a rollercoaster ride that nobody expected to go on — let alone ride the whole way through.
While we gear up to do it all again in 2023, let’s take a look back to see the most shocking and memorable moments each series had to offer us this year — in no particular order.
‘Tis the season of remembrance and gratitude, after all. So thank you, ABC, for giving us quite a handful of these “grab the popcorn, it’s getting good” moments.
Clayton Echard’s breakup with Rachel and Gabby
The Bachelor lead Clayton Echard telling both contestants Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey that he was in love with them before breaking up with them was a storyline that will forever go down in the franchise’s history books.
Also, Gabby’s incredible speech to Clayton after he broke her heart was a moment that had fans absolutely praising her. Her sassy response of “No” after he asked to walk her out? Iconic.
Clayton Echard announced his relationship with Susie Evans
Clayton shocked Bachelor Nation when he and Susie Evans announced their relationship during The Bachelor reunion, especially after she left the season early.
The moment even had host Jesse Palmer respond by repeating the word “wait” five times.
Although they have since broken up, it was still shocking to see that they had actually gotten back together at the time.
Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia became first double Bachelorettes
To piggyback off of that, Gabby and Rachel went on to make history as The Bachelorette’s first double leads.
Although the franchise had both Kaitlyn Bristowe and Britt Nilsson start off a season together back in 2015, this year was the first time both girls followed their individual journeys the whole way through.
Tino Franco cheated on fiancee Rachel Recchia
In one of the most awkward, unedited segments in Bachelor history, America watched as Tino fessed up to cheating on Rachel shortly after they had gotten engaged on the show’s finale.
Rachel did not back down, though, as she stood her ground, and the two agreed to go their separate ways.
Also, who could forget Tino showing up at the apartment with his little notebook — a visual that is truly etched into the minds of viewers.
Aven Jones surprised Rachel at the reunion
It was a sad, sad time for Bachelor Nation when fan-favorite Aven left the show after the two decided to end their relationship towards the finale.
Aven’s emotional maturity was something that surely captivated fans, and to everyone’s surprise, he showed back up during The Bachelorette reunion after millions of viewers had just watched Tino break Rachel’s heart.
While the two did not choose to further their relationship, it was most definitely a shocking reunion moment.
Shanae Ankney and Genevieve Parisi became besties
After becoming mortal enemies during The Bachelor, it was expected for contestants Shanae and Genevieve to absolutely go at each other’s throats upon arriving at Bachelor in Paradise.
However, the two became best friends, which is a mystery Bachelor Nation is still trying to solve to this day. Lucky for us, their friendship made for some of the funniest moments on this season’s BIP by far — especially when a copious amount of alcohol was involved.
Rodney Mathews left Paradise and everyone sobbed
I mean, it was obviously sad for the cast of BIP to see their friend leave the show after getting his heart broken.
But the way the Season 8 contestants handled Rodney leaving Paradise early? Let’s just say the number of tears that were shed could have rivaled the amount of water in the ocean outside of their villa.
We get it, though, since Rodney has been a huge fan-favorite and didn’t deserve to be played by Eliza the way that he was.
Michael Allio said the ‘L’ word to Danielle Maltby
Now, THIS was a truly shocking moment during the Bachelor in Paradise reunion — especially for Danielle.
After Michael admitted that he had only said “I love you” to his late wife, Laura, he admitted the sentiment to Danielle for the first time during the reunion.
Danielle’s expression simply said it all. The moment was beautiful, incredible, memorable — just — all the adjectives.
Victoria Fuller announced she’s dating Greg Grippo
In a situation that had BIP fans on the edge of their seats, Victoria announced during the reunion that she had broken off her engagement with Johnny DePhillipo and had started dating former The Bachelorette contestant Greg Grippo.
Rumors of the relationship had been swirling a few weeks prior to the reunion, and Victoria received an ample amount of hate for how quickly she had moved on — especially as viewers had just seen her get engaged to Johnny during the finale.
The segment during the reunion took up a large chunk of time, and while it truly had everyone scratching their heads, Victoria and Greg seem to still be going strong in real-time.
America chose Zach Shallcross’ first impression rose
Although the rumor mill had already pegged Zach Shallcross as the next Bachelor-to-be, he was officially announced during The Bachelorette reunion.
ABC surprised Zach with five of his contestants, and production set up a cheesy mock version of the classic Bachelor mansion for the girls to introduce themselves to him.
For the first time ever, viewers were then prompted to cast their votes on who they believed Zach should give his first rose to, making them safe for the first week when the show premieres in January.
America chose Brianna, who chose to take a selfie with Zach in her introduction to remember the moment they met for the first time.
And on that note, Bachelor Nation fans, it’s been a fun ride. See you again next year when there will be just as many insane moments to remember and potentially try to forget.
The Bachelor premieres on Monday, January 23 on ABC.