The Bachelor’s Matt James discusses controversial season and Rachael Kirkconnell split

The Bachelor’s Matt James reveals finale ‘hit me like a ton of bricks’ as he discusses controversial season and splitting with Rachael Kirkconnell due to her racially insensitive past

  • Matt James discussed his controversial season with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America Tuesday
  • Monday night’s After the Final Rose episode was the first time he had seen Rachael Kirkconell since the pair broke up  
  • Kirkconell had received Matt’s final rose on the 25th season of the popular dating show which first aired on Jan. 4
  • But pictures later emerged showing the contestant dressed in Southern plantation regalia from a college party in 2018 
  • He said the pair split after racially insensitive posts that Rachael made on social media came to light, leading him to question whether she ‘understands what it means to be Black in America’ 

Matt James discussed seeing Rachael Kirkconnell for the first time on the After the Final Rose episode while chatting with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America Tuesday.

The Bachelor admitted he was emotional and seeing Rachael ‘hit me like a ton of bricks’ as he addressed a number of topics on the ABC show which was hosted by Emmanuel Acho as Chris Harrison stepped aside after defending Rachael’s attendance at the 2018 college party on a plantation where she also dressed up in a heated debate with Rachel Lindsay.

‘I felt the weight of everything that I was carrying throughout the season, with what we were dealing with as a country and having to explain that why it was problematic to me and our relationship, which was extremely difficult,’ James told Strahan.

Difficult: Matt James discussed seeing Rachael Kirkconnell for the first time on the After the Final Rose episode while chatting with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America Tuesday

The Bachelor ended in heartbreak and controversy on Monday night after James, the show’s first black lead, gave Rachael his final rose, then revealed he broke up with her while their pre-taped episodes were still airing when ‘racist’ images of her attending a plantation-themed party were exposed online, along with evidence of past racially-insensitive social media posts. 

‘I think when you’re dating somebody, that’s what you’re hoping for,’ he told Strahan of their serious relationship and marriage talks. 

‘Anytime I’m in a relationship with somebody, marriage is the ultimate goal and when you find out things like I did that deters you from that ultimate goal because, like I stated during After The Final Rose — There’s just things that you just might not understand what it means to be with someone like me.’

Rough: Despite an incredibly challenging time and losing what he thought would be his future wife, he's incredibly grateful for the experience

Rough: Despite an incredibly challenging time and losing what he thought would be his future wife, he’s incredibly grateful for the experience

Despite an incredibly challenging time and losing what he thought would be his future wife, he’s incredibly grateful for the experience. 

‘I would say that, the conversations that have come from everything that has taken place are more important than anything I could have left with and if that means I leave under the circumstances that I left with, then so be it,’ he said. 

Matt, who had been with Rachael since Thanksgiving last year when the show wrapped, said he initially dismissed reports of her social media activity as ‘dark and nasty’ rumors when they emerged in late January.