Bella has since opened up publicly for the first time since her and Locky's final meeting, starting her post admitting: "I’m not entirely sure where to even start..."
"When Locky told me he loved me and couldn’t wait to make me happy for the rest of my life, I believed him and trusted him wholeheartedly. We connected on so many levels right from the beginning, some you saw, but most you didn’t."
"Having three months outside of filming completely changed the aspect of the show, it brought normality to the connection and we grew into what felt like a real relationship."
The Bachelor runner up added: "Looking back; I’m proud of myself. I gave it my all, I was true to myself and I wore my heart on my sleeve. Whilst it’s not my fairytale ending, the laughs and the memories will last a lifetime. I want to say thank you to my on-set Bachelor family who were with me up until the very end, thank you for making me laugh through my endless tears that night."
"To everyone that supported me on this crazy journey, the people out there who don’t even know me but continue to keep the vibes positive and especially the people who got me through a few of the hardest moments, you know who you are, and you’re the real ones. I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason and now was not my time, I’ll never stop being a hopeless romantic and I’m sure my happily ever after is still out there. Hopefully I don’t need to kiss too many more frogs."
Meanwhile, fans of the show were less than impressed with Locky's claims that he loved both Bella and Irena only to dump the former.
"So he dumped Bella because she didn’t give him a three year plan? What was she supposed to do, pull out her planner in the middle of the pool??????" one exasperated fan wrote on Twitter.
"He shouldn’t have told either of them that he loved them until he made up his mind. Hurting Bella like that was completely unnecessary," another penned.
Others thought of Locky's new girlfriend Irena with one fan writing: "I just feel bad for Irena having to watch Locky be in love with Bella.... not a great way to start a relationship."
