This week the fifth season finale of The Bachelorette garnered 9.9 million viewers, easily winning the night in terms of total audience and the major demos. In terms of past seasons, this finale had the highest ratings of the series in five years. Still, it is less than half the epic audience that the finale for the first season had, probably as a result of the popularity of the debut Bachelorette, Trista Rehn, who was the runner-in the first season of The Bachelor and had a significant following.

In terms of The Bachelor, the second season finale with Bachelor Aaron Buerge has had the highest audience. Season 13′s finale actually places in second.

Incidentally, ratings seem to have a low correlation with relationships’ success in this series. Most couples from The Bachelor break up after a few months. The only couple from The Bachelor that are still together is Byron and Mary from Season 6, one of the lower rated finales of the series. Sadly the situation is similar with The Bachelorette; couples from Seasons 2, 3 and 4 have broken up. However, Trista from the popular first season did marry her fiancee and they had two children.