October 06, 2021 • bachelor insider
EXCLUSIVE: Riley Christian & Maurissa Gunn Reveal When They Each Knew They Had Found ‘The One’ and Share Their Favorite Part of Watching ‘Paradise’
Riley Christian and Maurissa Gunn fell in love and got engaged on the beaches of “Bachelor in Paradise,” and now they’re ready to share their love with the world!
The newly engaged couple sat down exclusively with BachelorNation.com and revealed what’s next for them, when they each knew they had found “the one,” and their favorite part of watching back “Bachelor in Paradise.”
Now that the finale has aired, Riley and Maurissa are relieved to not have to keep their engagement a secret any longer! Maurissa said keeping everything under wraps was “so tough,” and Riley revealed that it might’ve been “the hardest part” of the entire process.
While both Riley and Maurissa admittedly didn’t know anything about each other going into “Paradise,” they revealed that their connection was strong from the moment they met.
“What first drew me to Maurissa was the good initial conversation that we had,” Riley explained. “When I first got to the beach, I was able to pull some people, and when I got to pull Maurissa, we were really able to connect. We had a lot in common that we didn’t expect, and from there, I was like, ‘I know who I’m taking on my date.’”
Maurissa agreed, adding that she knew Riley was “the one” right away.
“Our first initial conversation that we had, the connection that we had, something just drew me to him,” she said. “And then we went to dinner that night. I was just like, ‘This is it.’ It was just a feeling I had never felt before. It was good! It was such a good feeling,” the Bachelor Nation star revealed.
Now that their time in “Paradise” has come to an end, Riley shared that the next step is for Maurissa to move from Atlanta to New York, where he lives.
When it comes to their future wedding, Riley noted that while they don’t have any official plans yet, “The one thing we both agree on for the wedding is that as long as the love is there, we’ll be happy. As long as there’s love, family, friends, Bachelor Nation — bring them all!”
Maurissa and Riley also shared their favorite parts of watching back this season of “Bachelor in Paradise” as an engaged couple.
Maurissa said she loved “just being able to watch our story. It’s really nice to be able to watch us fall in love.”
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Riley agreed, saying how lucky they are to have their love story documented in this unique way.
“It’s the opportunity to be able to see everything back and essentially relive those moments. I know how I felt in those moments and it was a great feeling,” he said. “Normally, when you’re falling in love with someone, you don’t get an opportunity to capture these moments. We had the opportunity to see it all be filmed and to see it all back, it’s just as great the second time as it was the first.”
How sweet!
We can’t wait to see what’s next for these two. Congrats to Riley and Maurissa on your engagement!