Things must finally be going well between “Bachelor” stars Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell.
The pair got together when James picked Kirkconnell as the winner of his season of the ABC show, but they split in February after Kirkconnell’s allegedly racially insensitive behavior was brought to light.
But they reunited in May, and now we’re told they’re planning to move in together.
“They are thinking about where he wants to restart his real estate career,” says an insider. “He’s thinking Miami. They want to stay on the East Coast because their families are there. Plus, Miami real estate is blowing up and the weather is beautiful.”
Before appearing on the last season of the show, James, who is from North Carolina, worked at CBRE Group, Inc. in New York. Kirkconnell is a graphic designer from Georgia.
James chose Kirkconnell as the winner of Season 25, but they decided to buck convention and not get engaged on the final episode. Shortly after, a former high school friend of Kirkconnell claimed online that Kirkconnell had mocked classmates for being attracted to Black men. She was also accused of wearing culturally insensitive party costumes, and photographs emerged of her attending an antebellum-themed “Old South” party while she was in college.
Kirkconnell apologized in February for her “offensive and racist” past behavior.
The pair confirmed they had rekindled their romance in May with James telling the Wall Street Journal that the two are “trying to make it work.”
A source told Page Six at the time that James, who is Black, was “hesitant to publicly and outrightly confirm it right now because it’s still fresh and they still have issues to work through,” a source tells Page Six exclusively. “Rachael already faced scrutiny for her past, and now all eyes have shifted to Matt, so he’s feeling pressure to set a good example for other Black men.”
Now the pair seem to have moved past their issues. They were spotted Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons at the newly opened Bounce in Montauk, hanging out at the Surf Lodge, and “getting cozy” by the fire pit at Gurneys.
Reps for the “Bachelor” did not respond to request for comment.