Whitney Fransway and Connor Saeli were the couple no one saw coming on this season of Bachelor in Paradise. Connor came on and turned heads, but "lost" Caelynn to a mustache-less Dean as Caelynn decided that living in a van was preferable to sipping martinis on a beach with a sweet guy (intriguing). But he ended up finding a connection off-show with Whitney Fransway, whom he had met at Chris Randone and Krystal Nielson's wedding.
So everything's great with the tall, sweet contestant from Hannah Brown's Bachelorette season and the sweet brunette from Nick Viall's Bachelor season? I investigate—but prepare yourself, because it's not great news.
The two had a delightful edit on Bachelor in Paradise.
Connor stared longingly at the entryway to the BiP beach for a while before he decided that Whitney, whom he was waiting for, just wasn't coming. He left sadly. Literally five minutes later, Whitney showed up (lol, producers. Now you're not even pretending to be subtle.). She heard Connor had just left and raced off to be with him. The couple ended up canoodling in the hotel—a happy ending! Love is real! Paradise does lead to some of the cutest couples in the Bachelorverse! Right?
Whitney just posted honestly about their breakup.
Just kidding on the happy ever after, I guess. Whitney posted yesterday about the status of their relationship, saying, "Jumping into a long-distant relationship, right after, made [things] more difficult. At the end of August, we started having more serious conversations about where we saw our relationship going. We have been nothing but honest in communicating our feelings throughout the relationship, but we came to a conclusion that it just wasn't working right now."
She added, "The connection we had wasn’t igniting as much as it did in the beginning...We are still on good terms and ultimately, still have the foundation of a friendship. We have mutually decided this is the best decision for both of us. Thank you to everyone who was rooting for us and has been so so supportive. I appreciate it so very much. Love you all!" Welp, that's depressing.
Here's the post:
Intriguingly, Connor hasn't posted anything on his Instagram since leaving BiP:
And he did not "like" Whitney's Instagram post, despite being tagged in it. So I wonder if there's actually more to the story, or if things aren't as amicable post-breakup as we're being led to believe.
So there you have it. Sad trombone sound.
For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.
![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/gettyimages-1172987683.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.402xh;0,0.0391xh&resize=300:* "ABC's "The Bachelor" - Season 24")
![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/gettyimages-477761069-1583013323.jpg?crop=0.776xw:0.582xh;0.0208xw,0.0745xh&resize=480:* "ABC's "The Bachelor" - Season 18")
![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/gettyimages-925102076-1583090822.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.755xh;0,0.151xh&resize=480:* "ABC's "The Bachelor - Winter Games"")