Montrealer wins the final rose on The Bachelor
Just-wrapped season was Viall's 4th time participating in the reality TV franchise
A Canadian has captured the final rose on the latest edition of The Bachelor, with Montreal special education teacher Vanessa Grimaldi winning the heart of Nick Viall.
Grimaldi, 29, accepted Viall's marriage proposal on Monday night's season finale of the long-running reality TV romance quest.
I ❤️ you <a href="https://twitter.com/VanessaGrimaldi">@VanessaGrimaldi</a> 💍<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/thebachelor?src=hash">#thebachelor</a> <a href="https://t.co/29VQxkpCUr">pic.twitter.com/29VQxkpCUr</a>
—@viallnicholas28American Viall, a 36-year-old software sales executive from Wisconsin, is no stranger to the franchise.
He was unsuccessful in finding love during two previous appearances on The Bachelorette and also participated in Bachelor in Paradise.
Though the finale was shot in November, Grimaldi said she was able to keep the secret (which only her family knew) once she returned to Montreal after filming.
"I find that Montreal is pretty private when it comes to everyone's life, so they didn't really ask any questions. I was really lucky with my privacy at work and out on the street," she said on a post-episode appearance on late night's Jimmy Kimmel Live,
"Everyone just came up and just said 'Hi,' but no one really asked any questions."
In several interviews, including with Kimmel, the couple has said they would now focus on getting to know each other better in real life, away from the cameras.
For instance, they haven't worked out their permanent living situation just yet. Grimaldi is a Canadian citizen and her family is in Montreal, while Viall now lives in Los Angeles.
"She's Canadian, so we have to figure that stuff out," Viall told Kimmel. "She's gonna be spending as much time as possible out in L.A., where I am currently living."
Viall will continue in the reality competition universe with his next project: appearing on the series Dancing With the Stars, which starts a new season later this month.
Monday night's Bachelor finale wrapped the 21st season of the still-popular ABC reality series, which first debuted in 2002 and has inspired spin-off shows around the globe.
Producers broke with tradition by revealing in February — while the current season was still under way — that competitor Rachel Lindsay would star in the next edition of The Bachelorette, becoming the first black woman to lead the series.