The Bachelor alum Kendall Long has introduced her new boyfriend, Mitchell Sage, on social media and revealed that she's totally smitten with him.
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The series of pictures included snapshots of Kendall and Mitchell laughing at a local zoo, cuddling in a restaurant booth, enjoying a picnic in a park, and striking hilarious poses.
Congratulatory messages poured in from Bachelor Nation, including Astrid Loch, who commented, "Ummmm cuties," and Chelsea Vaughn, who commented, "Happy for you cutie."
Amanda Stanton commented with three red heart emojis, and Haley Ferguson wrote, "Soooooo happy for you!!!!"
Ashley Iaconetti gushed, "Yayyy! He's so cute!! So happy for you!!!"
JoJo Fletcher called the couple "so adorable," and Pieper James exclaimed, "I absolutely love that you're in love!!"
Kendall also received support from Jade Roper, Kristina Schulman, Chris Randone, and more.
Mitchell is Kendall's first boyfriend since her serious relationship with her former Bachelor in Paradise Season 5 and Season 7 co-star Joe Amabile.
Kendall first competed for Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s heart on The Bachelor's 22nd season in 2018, and then she met and fell in love with Joe on Bachelor in Paradise's fifth season, which aired in Summer 2018.
But the taxidermy enthusiast began questioning whether things would work out long-term and self-sabotaged, and so they both left the show single and brokenhearted.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOWBelieving she had made a mistake, Kendall flew straight to Chicago after the show wrapped to talk to Joe again in-person and apologize, and she expressed to him on-camera, "I am in love with you."
The pair therefore resumed their relationship in the real world, but Kendall and the former grocery-store owner announced their "amicable" decision to split back in January 2020 after nearly two years of dating and even talking about an engagement.
Kendall and Joe announced their breakup in 2020 after moving in together in Los Angeles in April 2019.
It made sense for Joe to live in L.A. for at least a period of time because he competed on Season 27 of Dancing with the Stars in Fall 2018.
The pair attempted to remain friends after calling it quits, but Kendall explained their breakup was difficult for her because they never fell out of love -- it was logistics that broke them apart, meaning Kendall wanted to continue living in Los Angeles, CA, and Joe desired moving back to his hometown of Chicago, IL.
When Kendall appeared on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season last summer, she watched Joe pursue a romance with Serena Pitt.
"It's difficult for me to not have you be a part of my life. I do want you in my life... in some capacity, and it's hard to not have that," Kendall said with tears in her eyes.
"You try to move on, but for some reason, it doesn't feel right and it's hard to... At first, I was absolutely terrified of coming."
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"Your thing was that you didn't want to move anywhere for a man... I should've been more than just 'a man' at that point, and we could've tried it," Joe told Kendall after complaining about how she wasn't even willing to try out Chicago for a little bit.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
Joe admitted he felt "confused" upon seeing Kendall again and their reunion was "going to be a problem."
"I don't know if I still love Kendall. I'm telling you the truth... I have something going on with Serena that I don't want to just throw away. I don't. This is messy. I need to figure out what to do," Joe lamented in a confessional.
Joe ultimately determined he wanted to continuing pursuing his romance with Serena, even though Kendall would begin dating other men on the same beach.
Joe wasn't exactly sure what Kendall's intentions were, but he assured Serena -- who broke up with Matt James on The Bachelor's 25th season after her hometown date -- that she was his "main priority."
"If she really wanted me back," Joe said of Kendall on Bachelor in Paradise, "she should have told me before I got here and before I started this. Because I really, really loved her."
Kendall ultimately decided to leave the show because she said it was too difficult to watch Joe with Serena and her feelings for Joe registered as painful realizations that she wasn't over him. She didn't want to sacrifice her mental and emotional well-being to stay on the show.
Kendall said on a September 2021 episode of the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast that she just went on the summer spinoff to find closure with Joe and had no intention of getting back together with him.
Joe proposed marriage to Serena and the couple got engaged on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh-season finale, which aired in September 2021, and they have since relocated to New York City and begun wedding planning.
"Obviously the plan was to move in together [before wedding planning]. We are thinking about 2023," Joe told Us Weekly in March. "I wouldn't be shocked if near the end of 2023 [there] was a wedding."
ABC has renewed Bachelor in Paradise for an eighth season but its cast and premiere date have yet to be announced.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
