
Well, this is a weird one to have to report, let me tell you. After the unholy madness that was the Bachelor finale (opens in new tab) (special appearance by Barb Weber's epic facial expressions (opens in new tab)), one of the weirder elements of the live episode was that my beloved bachelorette Kelley Flanagan (opens in new tab) was sitting in the audience the whole time—and nothing came of it. Rumors have been ongoing for a long time that 1) Peter Weber chose her over his other final women, 2) Weber and Flanagan were dating after the show, and/or 3) Weber and Flanagan had been seen together and were totally hooking up.
Nothing's been verified, so I initially brushed them off. But in retrospect, I feel like, actually, there may have been truth to some of the rumors. No idea where Weber stands with his chosen bachelorette Madison Prewett, but if the rumors are true that he and Flanagan have been casually seeing each other, there is a chance they might try to date in the future. Here's what we know so far. UPDATE: Flanagan says she's not with Weber (opens in new tab).
The evidence that Weber and Flanagan had a post-show romance.
There's first the evidence that Weber's family follows Flanagan and only Flanagan on social media. I initially attributed this to the fact that Flanagan and Weber met at a wedding before the show—it's the reason she went on the season in the first place—buuuut now I am less sure about that.
Then there were also rumors and unverified sightings that Weber and Flanagan were "hanging out" over the Super Bowl and after that as well. In this video that Kylie Jenner shared, Weber is there and perhaps mentions the name "Kelley" in the background:
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A photo posted by on
Initially, a lot of spoilers dismissed the rumors as just speculation—there were a lot of wild theories this season.
Another piece of evidence? "After the Final Rose."
Chris Harrison started the Bachelor finale by cutting to Flanagan, who was in the audience, and saying she was super-important. That kicked speculation about a Weber-Flanagan coupling into overdrive, but of course it came to nothing in favor of that hot dumpster fire ending instead.
According to this Redditor (opens in new tab) (so, you know, it hasn't exactly been verified) someone sitting behind Peter Weber's family friends during ATFR overheard this little gem:
"They, unaware that my coworker was eavesdropping, were also talking in hushed tones about how Barb had told them that Peter and Kelley had gone on several dates together and were talking a lot in the time between his engagement breaking off with HA and him appearing on ATFR with Madison."
Oh my word. Reality Steve has also commented that the timing (opens in new tab) of Prewett and Weber getting back together looks like it has some overlap with him officially breaking things off with Hannah Ann Sluss, so this would be a THIRD instance of overlap in which Weber might have been talking to two or even maybe three women at the same time.
Oh and what's this?? Barb Weber commented on Flanagan's Instagram saying she was amazing and asking to go shopping together:
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A photo posted by on
Sooo I feel like that's more than just a random "We barely know each other" relationship, to me. I'll say this: I think Barb knows something we don't.
Not even Reality Steve knows what happened.
In a recent post, RS admitted (opens in new tab), "Let's just say ever since Super Bowl weekend (just days after he ended his engagement to Hannah Ann), there have been rumors swirling Peter spent the weekend with Kelley and they slept together. I don’t know if we can rule those out anymore." He also said he didn't believe one word of the Prewett-Weber lovefest. So, in theory, he could be with Flanagan...but there's no evidence to support it yet.
We'll update if we hear more.
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Katherine’s a Boston-based contributor at Marie Claire who covers fashion, culture, and lifestyle—from “Clueless” to Everlane to news about Lizzo. She’s been a freelancer for 11 years and has had roles with Cosmopolitan and Bustle, with bylines in Parents, Seventeen, and elsewhere. It’s “I go to dinner,” not “Her huge ego,” but she responds to both.
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