'Bachelor in Paradise' finale marks first same-sex engagement in franchise history
Demi Burnett hopes same-sex engagement will one day "just be normal" on TV.
Bachelor Nation's Demi Burnett and Kristian Haggerty are officially engaged.
In Tuesday night's "Bachelor in Paradise" season finale, Burnett got down on one knee and popped the question to girlfriend Kristian Haggerty, marking the first same-sex engagement in the franchises' history.
"It's so crazy because we weren't trying to do that," Burnett told ABC News. "We were just loving and hopefully one day it will just be normal like the way we feel it is. We just feel like it's normal."
Haggerty returned the gesture in Tuesday's live finale by also getting down on one knee and proposing to Burnett.
And of course, she said yes.
"I am so so happy. Such genuine and incredible humans," fellow castmate Kristina Schulman said. "What I loved seeing on that stage was that they each said the same thing in a different way [about] what they loved about each other and they are exactly those people."
GLAAD called the proposal a "groundbreaking step forward" on reality TV.
"Demi Burnett and Kristian Haggerty have shown audiences that LGBTQ couples go through many of the same romantic joys, trials, and tribulations on the road to finding love," the statement read. "Seeing two women get engaged on 'Bachelor in Paradise' is a groundbreaking step forward towards including LGBTQ couples across reality television. Reality TV is finally moving towards storylines that LGBTQ audiences and allies have been craving for quite some time."
The couple has been receiving much praise and support on social media, but inevitably there are still some negative comments.
"There's one negative comment versus a thousand positive ones," Burnett explained. "So you can't focus on the negative."
Burnett was very candid throughout the season about her feelings for a woman back home as she was seeing Haggerty before joining "Paradise." As it would turn out, Haggerty still had feelings for Burnett -- that's when she joined the show to fight for Burnett .
"I think when she left for 'Paradise,' that's when I realized how much a really cared about her," Haggerty told ABC News.
Burnett described seeing Haggerty for the first time in "Paradise," "It was a feeling that I had never felt before of overwhelming love, throughout my whole core."
Now happily engaged, the couple is excited that they do not have to hide their relationship anymore due to the secrecy required between the show's taping and air date.
They said they are ready to do normal activities again, like watch Netflix and go grocery shopping.
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