Devin Strader has shared his side of the Maria Georgas drama that unfolded during The Bachelorette finale’s After the Final Rose episode.
Posting a 13-minute video to Instagram on Tuesday, September 11, that recalled the breakdown of his relationship with ex-fiancée Jenn Tran, Devin, 28, said he was “taking full accountability” for following Maria, 30, on Instagram while he was fighting with Jenn.
“I did follow her, I think, the week of August 14. I followed a bunch of Bachelor Nation accounts. But, regardless, it was still an ill-advised decision on my part,” Devin said in the clip that discussed much of what went down during the Tuesday, September 3, finale. “I shouldn’t be following people that I have no relationship with whatsoever. I don’t know Maria, I’ve never met Maria, I’ve never met up with Maria, and I will never follow Maria. I know I hurt Jen now … I’m just here to apologize for that, so I am sorry.”
Maria, who appeared on season 28 of The Bachelor with Joey Graziadei alongside Jenn, was dragged into the most recent Bachelorette season when Jenn revealed on After the Final Rose that Devin followed Maria on social media just one day after he dumped Jenn.
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“Ending the engagement on a phone call? The next day I wake up to you following girls on Instagram?! And not just any girl, but Maria?!” Jenn said to Devin during the live portion of the finale. “Not only is that so disrespectful to everything we shared together — I just don’t understand it. It completely invalidated our relationship. Everything we felt for each other. Did that even mean anything to you?”
Devin’s Instagram video detailed how his “emotionally charged decision” to follow Maria led to a 34-minute conversation between him and Jenn the following day. Producing a screenshot of his call log, which showed that Devin had placed the call to Jenn at 10:30 a.m. on August 15, Devin said he apologized to Jenn for his actions.
“I did apologize and she was the only one who needed an apology at that moment,” he said. “I realized I made a mistake and I am sorry. Reflecting back, I didn’t realize that I did make a poor decision and I shouldn’t be playing with people’s feelings especially when it’s regarding their emotions.”
For her part, Maria provided a lengthy statement via a TikTok video on Thursday, September 5, revealing that her “heart goes out to Jenn.”
“Yes, Devin followed me on Instagram,” she said. “I don’t pay attention to who follows me and who doesn’t. I had no clue about that, until people brought it to my attention. I didn’t know. And by that time, when I found out, he had unfollowed. Let me clear the air on something. I have never met Devin before.”
She continued, “I’m over coming to defense for my character … I know who I am and my friends and family know who I am. The fact that I had you guys watch me through a screen and still be able to see how real I was, I have no words. I understand Jenn having to speak up about it – say your piece, girlfriend, I respect it. I just think without the full context, it leads people to believe a whole different narrative.”
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Devin’s lengthy video saw the contestant explain that he was sharing “my truth” and didn’t mean to “denounce Jenn in any way” nor “say anything negative about her.” The video included many screenshots of text exchanges between himself and Jenn that took place over the span of filming season 21 of The Bachelorette.
Experiencing a change of heart just hours after posting the video, Devin shared a follow-up post via his Instagram Story that apologized for sharing “sensitive information” from the pair’s ongoing correspondence. The post has since been deleted.
