Well, we didn’t see this one coming! No sarcasm there. Really, we didn’t. Ali Fedotowsky picked Roberto Martinez over Chris Lambton (Let’s use full names now since the show’s wrapped), and Martinez proposed to Fedotowsky in Bora Bora, Tahiti. She said yes, by the way. Per tradition, sources say that ABC has asked Lambton to be their next bachelor on season 14, but Lambton isn’t chomping at the bit. Our guess is that his heart needs some time to heal. That, or maybe he wants to see if he can find love without a camera crew. But enough about the future. Let’s delve into last night’s past. Here’s what happened:
1. Martinez met Fedotowsky’s family.
The bachelorette’s family took to the former Tampa, Fla. baseball player immediately.
“Roberto is the tall, dark, handsome man of Ali’s dreams,” mom Beth cooed to the cameras. And later, to Martinez, “I can’t contain the joy of this whole experience…. I just see that she really cares for you.”
Beth even spoke a little Spanish to him, asking if her pronunciation was correct quickly afterward.
Her dad was just as easy.
“It’s so important to me that I have your blessing if I was to propose to her and ask her to be my wife,” Martinez told him.
“Do you love Ali?” Alex, her dad, asked.
“I do. She’s so strong in so many ways,” Martinez started and continued to list his favorite qualities about Alex’s daughter.
“I think you’re a great guy, so I don’t see a problem with that,” Alex told him.
And bam! Martinez has the blessing.
The evening finished with — what else? — salsa dancing.
“He just fit right in!” Fedotowsky squealed.
2. Lambton was introduced to the folks.
With his mother dying recently, one brother married and the other engaged, it’s no surprise that family ranks No. 1 on Lambton’s priorities.
“When you marry a girl, you marry her family as well,” he told the cameras.
As he eased into talking to the Fedotowskys, it became apparent that they are practically the same people. Both from Massachusetts. Alex used to teach high school physics. Lambton used to teach high school math. Both mothers are/were nurses. Both fathers were raised in Montreal.
Then, Lambton did something that Roberto failed to do: He opened up to Fedotowsky’s siblings, Raya and Mike.
“I think we’ve gotten really close, and we’ve progressed as a real relationship should,” he told them of his relationship with their sister.
And then came time for the talk with Alex.
“If her father didn’t approve and didn’t give me the OK to marry his daughter,” Lambton started. “Then I don’t think she would say ‘Yes’ to me.”
But Alex wasn’t as receptive to Lambton as he was to Martinez.
“Can you honestly tell me you love my daughter?” he asked.
“Whenever I see her, I just start smiling,” Chris said. “I like that she’s passionate about life.”
“I would have no problem,” Alex said.
Blessing No. 2 doled out.
Later, to the cameras, Lambton said, “Today was wicked…. I really think that Ali is my soulmate and perfect person…. And I can stop looking now.”
3. But who did she choose?
“It’s not about who’s a great guy. They’re both great guys,” Fedotowsky said. “It’s about who’s right for me, and I don’t know!”
While facing uncertainty, she did what any 20 something girl would do: sussed it out with her family.
“Roberto’s more wanting to move forward with you, and Chris is a little hesitant,” Alex said.
But sister Raya and brother Mike were quick to defend Lambton.
“He did tell us more than once that, ‘I will be proposing in three days,’” Raya said.
Beth added, “Chris seems to be very taken with Ali…. He seems unwavering.”
With three votes Chris and one vote Roberto, Fedotowsky left confused.
4. A jet ski, some stingrays and the rain.
The above description may not sound like an official answer to the question: What’s your favorite date? But for Fedotowsky and Martinez, it was perfect. The day after Lambton met her folks, Fedotowsky hopped on the back of a jet ski with Martinez driving.
“I love getting on machines that go really fast!” she squealed.
The couple then came upon a school of stingrays and fed them, which freaked the bachelorette out a little bit. After all, that’s how Steve Irwin died. As typical on the show (Sometimes we wish we were on it!), Martinez and Fedotowsky arrived at their own private island where they were served dinner on the beach. All went well until it started to downpour. But what would be considered disaster for most couples was heaven for them, as they forgot their sopping wet dinner and started dancing.
“Kissing Roberto in the rain is the most magical and romantic moment I have ever had in my life,” Fedotowsky said.
Their date ended with Martinez giving the bachelorette a framed photo of them, and declaring his love in a bungalow.
“I know I have a date with Chris tomorrow, and I should go, but I just can’t,” Fedotowsky foreshadowed. “I don’t want to say goodbye to Roberto.”
5. The breakup.
Lambton didn’t even see it coming. The day of their date, he told the cameras, “I will tell her every day how much I love her…. If I’m lucky enough to have her as my wife, I’d be a damn lucky man!”
But Fedotowsky arrived to his room in a panic and blurted out, “I feel like you have all the qualities that I would want in somebody…. I think even if two people are, like, really enjoy spending time with each other, like, hanging out and stuff, I don’t know if that means they’re supposed to be. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m in love with somebody else…. I have to let you go here and not wait until tomorrow.”
To which Lambton took it like the strong man we’ve come to know. Not shedding a tear, he replied, “Thank you. I am going to miss you. It’s going to take me a while to figure this out. You just snuck up on me…. You’re easy to love. That’s an amazing quality. It really is.”
And then something more amazing happened. After Fedotowsky left, Lambton saw a rainbow — and it hadn’t even rained (see video).
6. The proposal.
“My heart is not capable of loving more than one man. I am in love with Roberto,” Fedotowsky told the cameras.
Martinez also had a tidbit to tell the production crew, “I only want to propose once in my life, and if it’s not the right thing, I’m not going to do it.”
But when Martinez arrived on the isle where Fedotowsky waited, the couple was all smiles.
“My heart is pounding right now…. I wanted to make sure that I made the right decision for the both of us,” he said. “I want to be that man for you.”
And with that, he took out a ring, she revealed that she had sent Lambton home the day prior and ABC produced another seemingly happy couple on The Bachelorette.
“Fairytales are always things you read in stories or saw in movies,” Fedotowsky said. “God, I never thought I’d live one!”
And remember, folks, The Bachelorette is more than just a pretty face. Fedotowsky and her many men posed for a charity calendar that benefits Global Green USA and the Oceanic Preservation Society. Order yours here.
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Photos 1, 2 and 3 by Rick Rowell via ABC; Photo 4 by Heidi Hutman via ABC; Photo 5 by Matt Klitscher via ABC.