After The Final Rose: Katie Thurston AND Michelle Young will star in The Bachelorette back-to-back

The Bachelor: After The Final Rose episode revealed Monday that Katie Thurston and Michelle Young will both star in back-to-back seasons of The Bachelorette. 

Katie, 30, a bank marketing manager from Renton, Washington, will star this summer in the series’ 17th season.

Michelle, 27, a schoolteacher from Edina, Minnesota, will appear in the 18th season this fall.

Katie and Michelle both competed for the heart of Matt James, 29, on season 25 of The  Bachelor.

As the post-finale episode closed Emmanuel Acho, 39,  brought out Katie and Michelle and announced their new roles.

‘I am ready,’ said Michelle, finally smiling. ‘I really do think this process works.’

Michelle finished as runner-up on season 25 after Matt gave his final rose to Rachael Kirkconnell, 24.

Matt revealed during the After The Final Rose episode that he broke up with Rachael after ‘racially insensitive’ photos from her past surfaced. 

He split from Rachael after realizing that she hadn’t understood the full import of pictures she’d taken at an antebellum party in 2018.

‘As Rachael acknowledged in her apology, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done,’ the first black Bachelor said just hours after their season 25 finale. ‘I have to take a step back and allow her to put in that work. And I’m looking forward to seeing her put in that work.’

They were no longer together, he admitted.

‘If you don’t understand that something like that is problematic in 2018, there’s a lot of me that you won’t understand, and it’s as simple as that,’ Matt said.

The show leaned into the controversy surrounding it ever since the photos surfaced, and longtime host Chris Harrison, 49, said he was temporarily ‘stepping aside’ from the franchise.

‘Good evening Bachelor Nation,’ said fill-in host Emmanuel. ‘I’m sitting in for Chris Harrison tonight. Which already makes this the most shocking ‘After The Final Rose’ ever.’

Emmanuel promised there would be ‘a lot to talk about,’ including ‘Chris Harrison’s defense of insensitivity in his interview with Rachel Lindsay, for which he has since apologized.’

Chris had failed to denounce and attempted to defend Rachael’s actions in a recent interview with season 13 Bachelorette star Rachel, 35. 

As the runner-up on season 25 of The Bachelor, Michelle was the first cast member to hit the stage, striding on in a leggy black sheath.

She said that it had been horrible watching herself get rejected by Matt on TV, adding that she’d tried to speak to him again the day he broke up with her, and he’d said no.

‘I wasn’t okay,’ Michelle said. ‘I needed to say my piece because I didn’t get the chance to…But he refused to have that conversation with me.’

Michelle spoke to the controversy around Rachael’s antebellum photos, saying that her castmate ‘has a good heart’, but isn’t ‘educated enough’ and came off as ‘very inconsiderate.’

She felt that Chris’ apology was ‘another weight’ at a difficult time, saying that people made statements, but didn’t change anything.

‘There is a point where you’re just so exhausted,’ Michelle said.

When Matt was brought out, Michelle said that she’d ‘crumbled’ in front of producers when he dumped her, adding ‘I wasn’t okay. I wasn’t okay at all.’

Matt said that if he’d known she felt that way he would have agreed to talk to her, emphasizing that he ‘really did care.’

He praised Michelle for ‘the emotional labor that you took on and continue to take on as a Black woman in your position, and showing grace and composure through a lot of situations where I would have snapped. My respect and admiration for you is through the roof.’

Michelle seemed to forgive Matt, offering, ‘You will always have a piece of my heart.’

But she couldn’t resist a final dig, adding, ‘I hope you move on with kissing with your eyes closed, and I hope you come up with more phrases than just ”Thanks for sharing”.’

When she left, Matt was asked about the pressure of being the first black Bachelor.

‘It was a lot,’ he acknowledged, noting that the role was so much bigger than he was.

Matt said he felt like on some level he had to take on the weight of current social-justice movements, and address issues within the franchise itself around diversity and inclusion.

For many viewers, he would serve as a representative of all Black men, so he had to comport himself well and appear non-threatening; to make people feel comfortable.

Asked what he’d loved about Rachael, Matt said he was attracted to how ‘authentic’ the graphic designer was, calling their time after the show ‘an extended honeymoon period.’

Hearing about Rachael’s photos was devastating, he admitted. ‘You wanna believe that you know your person better than anybody else knows your person,’ he said. ‘I dismissed them as rumors because that’s what they were to me. You hear things that are heartbreaking, and you just pray they’re not true. And then, when you find out that they are, it just makes you question everything.’

It made him reflect on bitter memories from his own childhood in the South, he explained, and when he finally allowed himself to focus on how he felt about it, ‘I wasn’t okay.’

He realized that ‘Rachael might not understand what it means to be Black in America.’

To those who said he needed to get over what she’d done ‘a long time ago,’ Matt said, ‘You know what was a long time ago? Plantations. I would ask those same people who are so triggered to bring that same energy to supporting folks of color who are asking for change.’

Emmanuel asked Matt if he wasn’t ‘callous’ for judging Rachael instead of helping her grow.

‘Those feelings don’t go away overnight,’ Matt admitted. ‘You can still care about somebody and want them to do better. I don’t think that anybody’s irredeemable. There’s a lot of processing I have to do. And it’s just not a situation I think I would help.’

Rachael was then brought on to the show, and saw Matt for the first time since their split.

Shown a photo of herself at the antebellum party, Rachael said she’d been ‘living in ignorance without even thinking about who it would be hurting,’ never questioning what she’d done. ‘I’m not gonna sit here and say I didn’t know any better,’ the Cumming, Georgia, native added. ‘If I would have taken the time, I easily could have understood what was wrong with it.’

She’d heard from a lot of people who’d said such events were normal where they came from, but emphasized, ‘That doesn’t make it right, and that doesn’t make it okay.’

Asked by Emmanuel why she’d taken so long to release a statement, Rachael said it was because she wanted to understand what she’d done wrong, and why people were hurt.

She hadn’t ever worried about the photos, because she hadn’t understood what they meant. 

Rachael admitted to being ‘blindsided’ by Matt’s breaking up with her but realized he must have been very hurt to destroy their connection.

‘It was hard because I lost the love of my life, but in the process, I hurt him,’ she said.

Matt came back out, and Rachael told him again that she was ‘really sorry’ for everything.

Matt was silent for many moments, saying only that it was ‘heartbreaking,’ ‘devastating,’ and ‘disappointing’ as tears fell from his eyes.

Rachael took his hand and said, ‘It’s okay.’

Matt sighed and said, ‘The most disappointing thing for me was having to explain to you why what I saw was problematic, and why I was so upset.’

‘When I questioned our relationship, it was in the context of you not fully understanding my Blackness, and what it means to be a Black man in America, and what it would mean for our kids when I saw those things that were floating around the Internet,’ he went on. ‘And it broke my heart, because this is the last conversation I thought we’d be having.’

Rachael said, ‘You were the only reason I decided to do that show, and that includes every single part of you. And that obviously includes you being a Black man.’

Asked if a reconciliation was possible, Matt said it hurt to see Rachael in pain but didn’t want to be emotionally responsible for her tears, noting that she had to do the work herself.

‘Rachael, you may never speak to this man again,’ Emmanuel said abruptly. ‘The man who held your hands at that last proposal site and said that he saw you as his wife, the mother of his children. If in fact you do never see him again, what would you finally like to communicate?’

Rachael told Matt she thanked God for putting him in her life and wanted him to be happy.

‘Well, if you all want to share one final embrace,’ Emmanuel nudged.

Matt said, ‘I don’t know if it’ll never not hurt hearing those things.’

The pair did not hug.