‘The Bachelorette’: Full Guide to Becca’s Season

Bachelorette Becca Kufrin is ready to do the damn thing!

Monday night brought about the kickoff of The Bachelorette‘s 14th season, during which Becca began what’s sure to be a dramatic journey to find love, and we all tired of her catchphrase already.

Longtime members of Bachelor Nation will have recognized many of the common themes in the show’s premiere, from over-the-top limo entrances to accusations of contestants not being on the reality show for the “right reasons.”

But whether you’re a new watcher or a certified Bachelorette expert, there’s still a lot to unpack about the season, the controversy already swirling around one of its contestants and the Bachelorette’s tragic prior engagement.

Keep scrolling to learn from CNET absolutely everything there is to know about Becca’s season of The Bachelorette.

Who is Becca Kufrin?

After an unceremonious dumping on Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s season of The Bachelor, Becca may be the most anticipated Bachelorette of all time.

But other than her unlucky history on reality television, what do we know about the 28-year-old midwestern beauty?

The Minnesota publicist let fans in on quite a bit of her personal life during the most recent season of The Bachelor, revealing that her father Steve Kufrin passed away more than 10 years ago after being diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer.

Her mother, who appeared on show during hometown dates, is also in remission from breast cancer.

She’s also quite the brain, having graduated from Minnesota State University in 2012 with a 3.795 GPA and a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications. She has also been pretty outspoken about her political beliefs on social media in the past, hashtagging #imwithher in support of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and supporting a Joe Biden 2020 presidential run. (This will come up again later….)

 

Her History in Bachelor Nation

Becca may be ready for love on this season of The Bachelorette, but it took a pretty public heartbreak to get here.

During her time on Arie’s season of The Bachelor, the stunning brunette fell quick for the Arizona real estate agent, ending up in the finale two alongside Lauren Burnham.

Arie ended up proposing to Becca, promising to “choose” her every day, but just a few weeks into their engagement, had a shocking change of heart. Deciding he had made a mistake in not proposing to Lauren, Arie carved himself out a spot in Bachelor Nation’s hall of shame by allowing producers to film him breaking off his engagement with Becca in a 40-minute “unedited” segment that may be the most uncomfortable thing Bachelor fans have ever watched on the show.

During the After the Final Rose special, Becca opened up about her emotions during the painful split.

“It’s brutal,” she told Chris Harrison. “I mean, when it all happened, I feel like I kind of blacked out and so much was going through my mind I couldn’t even take it all in or focus on what i wanted to say. So to watch that back now, of course I had feelings for him and I loved him, so it was a hard heartbreak.”

“After he left, I went through all the emotions,” she said. “I was sad. I stayed in L.A. for a few days and cried for probably four days straight and grieved the loss of that relationship and the future I thought we were going to have. …I am angry at times. I feel betrayed a lot of the time, just because I feel like I was lied to for so long.”

 

What Has She Said About This Season So Far?

It appears Becca was able to bounce back in time, however, with her revealing in May that not only did she fall in love during her season of The Bachelorette, she’s already engaged!

“I’m so confident to be the Bachelorette now, because I know it works. I did fall in love, and I feel like it could happen again,” she said at the beginning of this season, predicting her success at finding love again. “I’m not gonna let that past heartbreak stop me from getting what I want. This is my time, my turn, my decisions, my choice.”

We won’t be posting any spoilers, but Becca did hint at what is about to go down during this season in an interview with PEOPLE.

“I am engaged!” the reality TV star said. “It was the happiest moment of my life. And it feels so good to say it. I still pinch myself, like, did that all just happen? It’s been a whirlwind.”

“I’m so excited to start this season and for everyone to see everything that happened. It’s been crazy, but it was so worth it,” she continued.

Who You Need to Know

We may only be one episode into the season, but the men vying for Becca’s heart have already made their roles in the show pretty clear. Here are the names you’re sure to be hearing more about:

Garrett: The winner of the first impression rose, which for the last three seasons of The Bachelorette, has been an indication of the winner! Becca already said he charmed her with his opening mini van stunt, and revealed he reminds her of home, so he’s definitely one to watch. He’s also got a lot going on outside of Bachelor Mansion, but more on that later…

Clay: A pro football player with (presumably) a heart of gold? Sign us, and maybe Becca up!

Colton: A FORMER pro football player, the dimpled hunk spends his time helping children fighting Cystic Fibrosis with his non-profit alongside his adorable dog Sniper. And he dated Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman prior to his time on the show? Definitely one to watch…

Jordan: A male model in Crystal River, Florida, Jordan has already stepped into his role as season villain by talking non-stop and nonsensically about himself and his wardrobe. Be prepared to love to hate this guy.

David: He showed up in a chicken costume, and didn’t bring a change of clothes for after his opening “Bacawk”/”Becca” joke. Bold. We’re curious to see what other costumes he brought with him.

Controversy

Garrett may have charmed Becca with his outdoorsy charm and Chris Farley impression, but there’s definitely something more insidious going on with the Reno native.

Prior to the premiere Monday, news broke that using a now-deleted Instagram account, Garrett “liked” multiple offensive posts, which were screenshotted by Bachelor alum Ashley Spivey and quickly went viral on Twitter.

One photo he liked was a meme posted by conservative clothing line Merica Supply Co., suggesting that a thin woman wearing a “Make America Great Again” bathing suit was better than a curvy woman in all black.

He also liked a meme of two boys shooting guns with the caption “What boys did in my day,” next to a photo of boys wearing makeup with the caption. “What boys are doing today.”

Other posts included ones mocking immigration, a student activist who survived the Parkland shooting and the transgender community.

No one from ABC, nor Garrett himself has addressed the offensive social media behavior yet. And what will Becca, who appears to be pretty liberal, think?

Bachelor Glossary

There’s a lot of lingo thrown around during The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, much of which viewers are expected to understand with little explanation. So here’s your explanation:

First impression rose: Given out only on the first night, this special rose is given to the man Becca likes best initially. It’s also a pretty good indicator of who will win the season too, so keep an eye on Garrett.

Rose ceremony: This is where Becca narrows down her pool of suitors every week (generally). During each ceremony, she will say a name of a guy she’s interested in having continue, hand him a rose and pin it to his jacket. There are fewer roses than guys, and the ones without a rose at the end of the night are sent packing.

Group date: When a bunch of the guys go on a date with Becca and will have to try and stand out from their peers during some kind of crazy activity. These often devolve into some crazy drama, with the pressure high to spend alone time with her and earn a rose.

One-on-ones: Basically a normal date (minus the cameras, that is). One guy gets to go on a date with Becca, and it’s either weird or romantic.

Two-on-ones: The most dramatic of all the dates, Becca will go on a date with two guys at once to decided which one goes home at the end of the day. She then dumps the one in front of the other! Or both! These dates are the best.

Fantasy suite: Near the end of the season, the Bachelorette is given a chance for some *ahem* alone time with her remaining suitors, sans cameras, overnight.

Hometowns: When Becca is down to just a few remaining suitors, she’ll travel with each of them to their hometown to meet their families, often to convince skeptical parents that the whole “dating 25 people at once” thing is not a weird way of getting to know one another.

Men Tell All: Generally aired after the hometowns episode, the Men Tell All special brings together all the eliminated men to hash out any remaining drama from the season. Often called the Bachelor in Paradise auditions, often contestants will pull out all the stops in an attempt to get cast on another spin-off of the show — or even as the next Bachelor!

After the Final Rose: After the season finale airs, there is a reunion special in which we get to catch up with the finalists. Unless there’s some crazy twist at the end of the season ala Becca being dumped on national TV, these are generally pretty snoozeworthy. 

How to Watch

 

Watching The Bachelorette is a lot more involved than simply tuning into ABC every Monday at 8 p.m. ET.

Most seasons are 12 episodes over a three-month span, but things can often switch depending on sports schedules.

Be prepared to catch the show on:

• Mondays, two-hour episodes: These are the most common kind of episode and make up the majority of the season.
• Tuesdays, two-hour episodes: These episodes occur more as the season progresses, and often consist of solo date nights and rose ceremonies.
• Wednesdays, two-hour episodes: Historically, Wednesdays are when the end of the season reunion show airs.

If you miss an episode live, you can always catch it on ABC’s website and on Hulu.

Other Bachelor Spin-Offs

Are you totally obsessed with The Bachelorette now? Great! Lucky for you, there are a ton of other shows in Bachelor Nation to get you your fix of drama when it’s over.

The Bachelorette is obviously a spin-off itself of The Bachelor, which premiered in 2002 on ABC and has been running for 22 seasons. While there have been a number of one-off specials throughout the year, these have been the three biggies:

Bachelor in Paradise: A spin-off of the regular seasons, it drops alums in Mexico, where they can either pair up or go home. There’s a lot of drinking, a lot of tears and a lot of drama thanks to some expert casting.

Bachelor Pad: The worst spin-off of Bachelor Nation, Bachelor Pad ran for two years before it was replaced in the hearts of fans by Bachelor in Paradise. It hasn’t been missed.

Bachelor Winter Games: This two-week show first this in February during the Olympics. Bachelor and Bachelorette alums from all over the world met, tried their hands at embarrassing themselves athletically, and even fell in love…kind of. One couple came out engaged, but they already broke up. It’s unclear if it will come back, but it doesn’t make nearly as much sense in a year without the Olympics.

Photo credit: ABC