Scotty Lewis and Aria De’Westbrooks have a proposal in “The Ultimatum” finale — but their story kept going.
Scotty, 30, gave Aria, 25, an ultimatum, though both wanted to work through their challenges.
“I want to marry him,” Aria said right before the “split” portion of the dating show in Episode 1, when the couples split up and find new partners for a trial marriage. “I just feel like if I were to do that, it’d be me moving and me having to do a lot of sacrificing to make him happy.”
“At a certain point you have to question, is it life situations surrounding marriage that are making you hesitate, or is it the person that you’re with?” Scotty asked in response.
For her trial marriage, Aria partnered with Caleb Storm, 29, whom she said gave her hope that she could trust men since Caleb had a lot of qualities that she believed Scotty was missing.
“I literally lay in bed being like, ‘God, please let Scotty act like Caleb,’” Aria said.
While Aria and Caleb became close, they never developed a relationship that went beyond friends. Meanwhile, Scotty’s trial marriage with Zaina Sesay ended in a blowout fight.
During the changeover, Scotty and Aria got to live with each other for the first time and deepen their bond. Here’s what came next.
Do Scotty and Aria get engaged in the finale?
When it came time for Scotty to propose, the couple’s future looked uncertain.
“I’m sorry if I didn’t love you the way you wanted to be loved,” Scotty said. “But I hope that I made you feel seen in our trial marriage, because I really really tried. I really tried to give you the love I haven’t given you in our relationship.”
“I don’t want you to feel like I’m always compromising and I’m not,” Aria said through tears. I want to compromise with you and I want you to see that I compromised to be here. I’m here because I love you.”
“All of the difficulty or doubt that surrounded our relationship, it would have been so easy for one of us to walk away. We’re still right here with each other,” Scotty said. “I don’t doubt you anymore.”
“I feel like I’ve just been waiting for you to say those things because I feel like I didn’t feel that,” Aria responded.
Right before getting on one knee, Scotty expressed his deep love for Aria.
“Above all else, I just want you to know that I choose you, right now, today, and for all of my tomorrows. Because you are not just a woman that I want to be with. You are the woman that I can’t be without,” Scotty said.
“I love you so much,” Aria said through tears. “Yes, yes, yes yes!”
The couple was then shown leaving the experiment happily engaged.
Are Scotty and Aria still together?
In an interview with TODAY.com, Scotty shares that he and Aria have broken up since the engagement.
“We are taking some time away from each other. We’re broken up, and I’m honestly really heartbroken,” Scotty says. “I needed to be better for her, and in the moment, I wasn’t. For me, I know that there’s so much work that I need to do in order to be a better individual for myself first. And you know, I love Aria with my whole heart.”
Scotty acknowledges how viewers might be feeling about him when it comes to his behavior toward Zaina and Aria. He also encourages viewers to consider the context that may be missing — and to give the cast grace.
“I want to make sure that I do my best to be accountable for the things that I need to be better at, because I know that I’m not a perfect person. With that being said, I know this season is a very controversial season, and my hope is that people just lead with empathy when they’re communicating or they’re sharing their perspectives, because we are people too,” Scotty says.
While Scotty says he does not regret issuing the ultimatum, he does regretssome of his actions.
“I have so many regrets about conversations, or how I showed up, or how I didn’t show up for Aria, and miscommunications with Zaina too,” Scotty says.
“I brought so much of my hurt into this experience. I know hurt Aria, where she felt like she was trying so hard, and I was just dismissive of her effort. I wish I could take that back. I wish I could tell her and show her how much she means to me,” he continues.
What’s next for Scotty?
Scotty says his “white flag is up” and that his goal is to be on good terms with the people in his life.
“I need to heal. I need to go on a journey of healing. And I think one thing that I know will be a crucial part of that healing journey is unraveling my fear and apprehension towards therapy,” he says.