In recent years of The Bachelor franchise, many of the male leads have gotten cold feet before heading into the finale. Matt James, whose season finished airing last Monday, was no exception. At the beginning of his time on the show, fans believed he was making thoughtful choices on who he kept versus who he sent home. Halfway through the season, when photos surfaced of winner Rachael Kirkconnell attending an antebellum-themed party, seeing Matt torn between Rachael, Michelle, and marriage, made it all the more painful to watch. Many of the women cast as The Bachelorette don't seem to share the same conflicted emotions as their male counterparts and have had longer-lasting relationships because of it.
Although Matt didn't propose to Rachel, the pair did leave the show under the agreement to be a couple. In the finale, they exchanged "I love you's" and he handed out the final rose. However, it was on a painfully awkward After The Final Rose special that fans learned the couple obviously split. Matt's runner-up, Michelle Young, was also there and they made peace with each other. Michelle has since been cast as one of the next Bachelorettes, so there is no chance for romantic reconciliation with Matt. During Jason Mesnick's Bachelor finale in 2009, Jason broke up with his fiancée, Melissa Rycroft, on live TV. Jason then proceeded to get back together with runner-up Molly Malaney within the hour. While Jason and Molly have been together ever since, Matt's indecision left him visibly and emotionally drained.
The prior season leads before Matt, Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Peter Weber, also caused controversy for their flip-flopping nature when it came to women. In 2017, Arie recreated what Bachelor Nation calls "pulling a Mesnick" and also broke up with then-fiancée Becca Kufrin. Thankfully, it was taped rather than live, but that didn't make it any less intense. In Arie's live ATFR, he then proposed to runner-up Lauren Burnham. They have also been together since. It's interesting that Arie and Jason just didn't pick the women they really wanted during their seasons, but at least it worked out for them. Perhaps, Bachelor producers were hoping to prevent this from happening again on Matt's season and preemptively cast Michelle as a precaution.
In terms of indecision, Peter Weber's season easily raised the bar to another level. Peter got engaged to Hannah Ann Sluss in 2019 and everything seemed to be on the right track for the couple. Sometime between the filmed engagement and the finale airing, Chris Harrison encouraged Peter to follow his true feelings and try to pursue his runner-up, Madison Prewett. Peter and Madison arrived at the live aftershow as a couple, where Peter's mom, Barb, made her feelings towards his new girl very clear. They soon broke up, and Peter moved on with another season contestant, Kelley Flanagan, last year. After a few months together, they also ended their relationship.
If Matt does decide to further follow in the footsteps of past leads of The Bachelor, he seems to be off to the right start. Fans have speculated that, following Matt's breakup with Rachael, he has begun dating his friend and season contestant, Heather Martin. Even though he sent her home after one night, anything is possible when it comes to former leads and dating. Viewers could even have a possibility of seeing Matt on-screen again in Bachelor in Paradise, as a hope of rekindling a romance with any other woman he should've kept. Here's hoping the men eventually get better at making up their minds.