‘The Bachelor’ Stars Nick Viall & Vanessa Grimaldi Call Off Their Engagement

The curse of The Bachelor franchise has struck again, leaving another couple without their happily ever after.

Nick Viall and winner Vanessa Grimaldi have decided to call it quits roughly five months after their proposal on The Bachelor finale.

The reality TV couple released a joint statement detailing the breakup:

It’s with a great amount of heartbreak for the both us as we have decided to end our engagement. We gave this relationship our all and we are saddened that we did not get the fairytale ending we hoped for. We will continue to be there for each other no matter what. This hasn’t been an easy decision, however, as we part ways, we do so with lots of love and admiration for each other.

Ever since their season wrapped, the couple spent most of their time together in Los Angeles in an attempt to make the relationship succeed. Nick, on a few occasions, even traveled to Vanessa’s hometown of Montreal to visit her family and support her special education charity, No Better You.

The pair had been spotted out on various date nights around Hollywood, including at the chic French restaurant Republique. According to sources, the two also enjoyed nights at home, with Vanessa remarking “Nick cooking shirtless isn’t a bad date.”

Fans of the show may have seen the couple’s breakup coming. Vanessa foreshadowed the pair’s trouble on the After the Final Rose live show which followed the televised proposal.

“We love each other,’ she told host Chris Harrison, ‘but there have been days that have been difficult.”

In a separate interview with Good Morning America the following morning, the couple said they made a conscious choice to be open about their concerns.

‘Vanessa and I just kind of decided to just be up front with the fact that it’s difficult to start a relationship as the Bachelor and with 29 other women and that it’s difficult to maintain that relationship long-distance while it’s being re-aired,’ Nick told GMA.

‘We just decided to just kind of just be upfront about it and to be open to the realities of our relationship.’

Despite their best efforts, the difficulties the couple faced proved to be too much for their relationship.