The Bachelorette Season 16 finale: Checking Up on Tayshia

The Bachelorette Season 16 finale gave Tayshia her happy ending!

The Bachelorette Season 16 finale was two nights of an emotional rollercoaster, but it did end in love! There are overarching themes to Tayshia’s plan of attack each week and this column will be a weekly update on her journey to finding her person. The theme of this week is loyalty and commitment, which is what Tayshia has been looking for all along.

The final week of The Bachelorette Season 16 consisted of Fantasy Suites, meeting Tayshia’s family, and the final proposal. With all the coming and going of contestants, it certainly left us with mixed emotions all the way up to the end. But it’s evident that Tayshia followed her heart and did what was best and looked happier than ever after the final rose.

The week starts off with the Fantasy Suite dates for Ivan, Zac, and Brendan. Aside from Ivan’s very odd night portion in a trailer rather than any hotel room, his and Zac’s dates go well. Ivan says he is falling in love with Tayshia, which she says back. Zac goes a step further, telling her he loves her, and again she says this back. She is happy with both dates, but there is still an indication that Zac is further ahead at this point.

Brendan’s day portion is incredibly uncomfortable as Neil Lane is present and shows him and Tayshia a selection of engagement rings. This forces him to confront the fact that he is not healed enough from his divorce and makes the choice to leave during their dinner.

Ben makes a less than shocking return to finally tell Tayshia he loves her after not doing so last week. She seems annoyed that he waited until now, but ultimately invites him back to the rose ceremony and kisses him goodbye. We know that Tayshia’s biggest priority is someone who will be loyal and stay with her and Ben definitely tapped into those feelings.

Tayshia sends Ivan home, claiming that it was because of their religious differences, but I still think she also did not have as much chemistry with him as she did with the other guys.

Ben and Zac both meet Tayshia’s family, and both go well, though Tayshia’s dad comes back later with concerns. She realizes that her heart is not with Ben like it is with Zac, so she goes to his room and sends him home. This is a much more responsible move than other seasons where both contestants will meet the lead to propose, only to get their heart broken.

Ben talks about how in love he was with Tayshia, which is a point of growth for him after the traumatizing moments he has talked about throughout the season. It does feel like he needs more time to heal as well, but Tayshia wanted someone who was totally ready for a commitment now.

This brings us to Zac. Tayshia has already admitted that she loves Zac and she is ready for a proposal.

Zac meets Tayshia on the all-important finale platform, something we have not seen go completely well the past few seasons, so this was a breath of fresh air! Each speech to one another was quite beautiful and you could tell how over the moon Tayshia was to hear a man talking about how loyal he is to her. They talk about being able to have fun with one another, but also finding those deep moments of connection and support for one another.

Zac and Tayshia both have been through a lot in their lives and the growth they have both displayed shows that they are ready for a happy and healthy loving relationship.

That’s it for this season and a beautiful ending proposal! 

What did you think of the finale? Are you excited to see what the future holds for Tayshia and Zac?