Yes, I watched this, and I too was dismayed (to say the least) at how it ended last night:
"There have been many break-ups of the couples who met during the 12 previous seasons of ABC's "The Bachelor" and four seasons of "The Bachelorette." But until Monday night, none of the couples broke up while the show was actually airing. Jason Mesnick, the single dad whose heart was broken by DeAnna Pappas at the end of "The Bachelorette 4," broke two hearts, not counting viewers who are dismayed by the way he chose Melissa only to dump her during the "After the Final Rose" special and pick Molly, who he'd rejected earlier."
Read the whole thing--I agree with the writer when she argues this probably wasn't scripted, a conspiracy hatched by Jason and the producers to make boffo TV. Although--I doubt the show's producers tried to dissuade Jason when he told them he was thinking of dumping Melissa.
Mainly, though, I come down here: 1] Jason only gave his relationship with Melissa six weeks. Then he wanted out. That's not trying hard enough. 2] He didn't have to dump her on national TV. He could have insisted it be done privately. 3] Jason claimed his relationship with Melissa wasn't the same, once the show ended. Well, of course not--the relationship was no longer a TV show, with fantasy dates funded by ABC. It was now real life. He needed to know that and deal with it.
Jason Mesnick comes out of this looking terribly--and yes, as the article suggests, the only good thing about it is that it reminds us that relationships aren't fairy tales or TV shows where everything works out in the end. You have to work at them. It's very sad that Jason didn't. Meanwhile, one hopes Melissa Rycroft is OK. She seemed like a nice person.
