Devin Strader Admits He 'Shouldn't' Have Followed Maria

Devin Strader addressed his decision to follow Maria Georgas on Instagram one day after ending his engagement to Jenn Tran. The Bachelorette alum acknowledged that it wasn’t right of him to follow the former Bachelor Nation star amid his breakup.

“I followed a bunch of Bachelor Nation accounts,” Devin, 28, explained in a lengthy video posted to Instagram on Tuesday, September 10. “But, regardless, it was still an ill-advised decision on my part. I shouldn’t be following people that I have no relationship with whatsoever. I don’t know Maria, I’ve never met Maria, I’ve never met up with Maria, and I will never follow Maria. I know I hurt Jenn now. I’m just here to apologize for that, so I am sorry.”

Jenn, 26, confirmed her breakup from Devin during the live aftershow of the Bachelorette finale, which was filmed on September 3, less than four months after they got engaged. However, before the engagement even aired on television, Devin ended the relationship at the beginning of August. During their aftershow confrontation, Jenn called out her ex for following other girls – including Maria – after the split.

In his apology video, Devin said that he and Jenn previously discussed the situation during a 34-minute phone call. “I did apologize and she was the only one who needed an apology at that moment,” the reality star said. “I realized I made a mistake and I am sorry. Reflecting back, I didn’t realize that I did make a poor decision and I shouldn’t be playing with people’s feelings, especially when it’s regarding their emotions.”

For her part, Maria, 30, previously released a TikTok video to confirm that she’d never met Devin or followed him back. She also said that he had already unfollowed her by the time she even knew he followed her in the first place. Meanwhile, Jenn made it clear that she never thought anything happened between Maria and Devin, but said she wanted to point out how her ex-fiancé had disrespected her amid the breakup.

Maria and Jenn were both on the same season of The Bachelor and were embroiled in some public drama after it was revealed that they were both in contention for the role of the Bachelorette. Maria insisted that it was “set in stone” that she was going to be the choice for the gig, but she said he turned down the offer because it was too “overwhelming” for her. However, Jenn said this narrative “wasn’t entirely true.”

“Multiple people are doing interviews or doing fittings or filming intro packages,” the Miami resident explained on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. “And it’s never really you until it’s you.”

Maria said she and Jenn are “no longer friends” while addressing the drama with Devin, but insisted that she would not stand for her former castmate being disrespected by a man. “[It] doesn’t mean we hate each other,” the Canada native explained. “And it doesn’t mean that if someone’s gonna disrespect her in my face that I’m gonna sit here and stand for it. Because I’m not.”