To start things off, we are greeted with a new host of After the Final Rose. Due to all of the controversy surrounding Chris Harrison, former NFL star and Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho will be the host for the night.

The first woman to come out and talk to Emmanuel is Michelle. She tells Emmanuel that she knew Matt was the one when he met her family and how natural it really seemed to have him around.

Michelle states that she wanted to take two minutes to talk to Matt after they broke up, not to change his mind or anything, but to have closure. She says that Matt did not want to talk and it still hurts her to this day because she did not get that closure she wants. 

Emmanuel brings up everything going on with Rachael and Michelle says that she can see that Rachael has a good heart but she still has a lot of learning to do. She also says that the Chris Harrison stuff is just another weight added to everything going on. 

Matt is eventually brought out to talk with Michelle. Matt says he is still trying to process everything. She tells him that she was really hurt by him not wanting to talk and how caught off guard she was by the whole break up. He tells her that if he really knew she was struggling at that time, he would have taken the time to talk with her so she could have her closure. 

Michelle says she still cares for Matt but she is not in love with him anymore. Before she heads out, her last remarks to Matt are that she hopes he learned to kiss with his eyes closed and that he has found a new phrase other than “thank for sharing that.”

Now it is just Emmanuel and Matt. Emmanuel asks him what it was like being the first Black Bachelor. Matt says there was a lot of pressure because he wanted to be the best he could be as a representation of the Black community. 

He is asked about Rachael and says at first hr dismissed everything coming out about her as rumors because he could not believe something like this was being said about the woman he loved. Once he found out it was true, he had to take a step back to realize where things were. 

Rachael ended up apologizing on her Instagram and Matt is still trying to figure out where he is and he says that the two are no longer together. 

Rachael is brought out to talk with Emmanuel one-on-one. He is being very nice to her but also asks the hard-hitting questions. He brings up the photos of the Antebellum Plantation-themed party that started all of this. They end up showing the pictures in case people at home have not seen them. He asks Rachael what she feels looking back at them and she says she sees someone who was living in this ignorance not thinking about who it could be hurting.

Emmanuel asks her why it took so long for her to come out with a statement and apology. She said that she wanted to make sure she was educating herself and going to be saying the right things.

The one thing she regrets is knowing that she hurt Matt because he was someone that she truly loved and saw herself spending the rest of her life with. Matt is then brought out again to sit down with Rachael for the first time since the break up.

She turns to Matt and apologizes for not understanding how truly hurt he was at the time but now understands why. Matt said that it was disappointing to learn about this and there is a long silence. 

He states that the most disappointing thing was having to explain to Rachael why the photos were so problematic and disturbing. He said that when he is committed to someone in a relationship, he is all in because he is in a relationship for marriage to be the end goal but he cannot see himself being with her.

Rachael says that she does not believe anyone else is out there for her other than Matt and she loves him and does not regret anything about coming on the show to find love.

Her last words to Matt are that she wants him to be happy and wants what is best for him. She is sorry and thankful that God put him in her life and brought her on this journey.

As the end of AFR comes, we are introduced to not one, but two Bachelorettes. Fan favorites Katie and Michelle will be the new faces of the franchise. Katie’s season will begin in the summer followed by Michelle’s in the fall.