Riley Christian & Maurissa Gunn Get Engaged On 'Bachelor In Paradise'

Tuesday night’s Bachelor In Paradise finale made history, marking the first Black couple in the show’s history to leave the beach engaged.

Source: Craig Sjodin / Getty

After spending the entire summer licking whipped cream off one another’s extremities, fan favorites Riley Christian and Maurissa Gunn got engaged during last night’s Season 7 finale, leaving Mexico hand-in-hand. In seven seasons of Bachelor In Paradise, 25 seasons of The Bachelor, and 17 seasons of The Bachelorette, this is the first time a Black couple has ended the process engaged to one another.

“My life has been full of letdowns and broken promises until I met you. You showed me what a real man is,” Maurissa said during the finale. “You showed me literally everything I’ve dreamed of my whole life. You showed me that fairytales do exist, even though our fairy tale includes whipped cream and toes.”

She continued, “I knew that I was going to do whatever I needed to to make you mine, and today I know that I wanna make you mine forever.”

After Gunn made her heartfelt declaration, Riley tried to fake her out with his speech before popping the question.

“I’ve gone from city to city, from state to state and now from country to country in search of something very special,” he said. “The difficult thing about what I’m searching for is that it’s not something that you can always see. It’s the feeling of my heart beating fast, it’s the feeling of butterflies in my stomach, it’s the feeling of goosebumps on my arms, and I know that that feeling is love. See, Maurissa, I love you, and I’ve loved you since our very first date, but I just need to be sure.”

That’s when he dropped to one knee and asked Maurissa to marry him, which she happily accepted–but not before scolding him for trying to throw her off.

Check out the emotional proposal down below: