Demi Burnett and Kristian Haggerty have made reality TV history after getting engaged on The Bachelor becoming the first same-sex couple to do so in the show’s 17-year history.

During the season six finale of Bachelor in Paradise, a spinoff which brings together previous contestants of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, Burnett proposed to Haggerty on a beach in Mexico.

Burnett identifies as sexually fluid and initially was persuing co-star Derek Peth. She then revealed that she had started to fall for a woman outside of the show (Haggerty). Producers decided to bring Haggerty into the show, and the couple’s relationship grew.

During the finale, the couple held hands and Haggerty told Burnett:

“Demi, you changed my life forever.

“I think back to the first time we kissed, and it felt like the whole world had stopped… I’m in love with you, and I give you my full heart. I promise to protect yours now and forever.”

Burnett said: “I know that this has been really hard… I never knew that someone could be that patient.

“There were a lot of things that came between us, mostly myself and my own struggles. Like you said, I came here to find myself. But I found myself in you.

“I’m so in love with you, and I didn’t even think it was possible to feel this way about someone.”

Burnett then got down on one knee and asked Haggerty to be her wife, making them the first couple to get engaged in all 44 seasons of The Bachelor franchise.

Following the show, Burnett told The Hollywood Reporter she hopes their journey on the show will eventually ‘normalise’ same-sex relationships.

“I know it’s a big deal that it was the first same-sex [engagement] on this franchise in the US, but we weren’t thinking of the significance of that at the time.

“It was just about us loving each other, and that’s really what the focus was.”