REVIEW: It was the moment we've all been waiting for — and no, I'm not talking about the Moses Mackay shower scene, although that was a treat too. I'm talking about the final rose!
She got the first kiss and now the last rose.
It was all laughs as the 30-year-old opera singer presented Wānaka bartender Annelise Theis with this season of The Bachelor New Zealand's final rose and a whopping sparkler for her pinky finger.
"Do you accept it? You don't have to," he said.
Mackay's wording may not have been the relationship proposal of every girl's dreams, but the light-heartedness between the singer and his now only girlfriend was in my opinion even better.
"I don't know what to do now," an awkward Mackay said after, beaming with a cheesy grin, before the couple walked off hand-in-hand into the sunset.
But while there was fireworks with Theis — who even talked about whipping her dress off right then and there — Mackay had to say goodbye to runner-up Shenae Connelly just moments before.
The Auckland marketing adviser impressed Mackay's family, got on well with his mates and made the singer see a future with her.
But in the end, "it's not you", he told her.
Connelly said she was "gutted" at the ending as coming out heartbroken was her biggest fear, but she added that she didn't have any regrets about the experience.
Before the decision, though, Mackay took both women on thoughtful one-on-one dates.
First, Annie.
He surprised the dancer with a "once in a lifetime" experience to perform on stage at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre at Auckland's Aotea Centre, before watching the ballet and meeting some of her idols.
"This is where the magic happens," she said, looking graceful and gorgeous in her element.
"It's been outrageously amazingly, perfectly beautiful. It was something that I'll never forget."
However, later in the evening Theis declined the option to spend the night with the bachelor without cameras.
"I'm scared because I have to protect my heart," she said tearfully before leaving the fantasy suite.
Then, Shenae.
In another personalised date, Mackay took her fishing — something her late father used to do with her.
Connelly said there was no other date she'd want to do — and that was despite Mackay's fish-filleting advice to "open it up from the bumhole".
The pair did opt to spend the night together at a gorgeous poolside property, but both made it clear that doing "that" was off the table.
The "magical" evening put a spanner in the works for Mackay's decision making, though, with him admitting feelings for both women even on the final day.
But in the end, it was the "crazy, amazing, wonderful" Theis who came onto the show late as an intruder, and was dubbed the "assassin" by her fellow competitors, who snatched his heart.
A tell-all special to recap the season will air on Monday on TVNZ2 and OnDemand.
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