Dean Unglert Shut Down Marriage Rumors By Explaining His "Commitment Ring"

To call Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes' relationship confusing would be a massive understatement. The two shocked fans when Miller-Keyes agreed to leave paradise with Unglert during Bachelor in Paradise Season 6 (despite the fact that he previously broke up with her on her birthday, which is decidedly #NotCool). After a year of denying marriage rumors, confirming marriage rumors, and even claiming at one point they would never get married, Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes' "commitment rings" were finally explained during the June 22 episode of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons—Ever! Apparently, the BIP couple is not married, but Unglert and Miller-Keyes are totally committed to each other.

During the episode, Unglert opened up to Chris Harrison about the meaning behind their mysterious rings. "The fact that I'm wearing the ring is showing that I'm committed to Caelynn and only Caelynn, and I've been wearing it for the past six or so months," Dean said. "She wears her fun little ring as well, which isn't the traditional ring of marriage or engagement ring, but it's our way of telling the world and the people we're around that we are committed to each other." Perhaps that rumored "commitment ceremony" back in February wasn't a rumor after all.

On June 21, 2019, just about a week after the infamous birthday breakup, Unglert and Miller-Keyes decided to give romance a second chance, though over the past year, they haven't always been on the same page. Initially, the model didn't think the two of them would even last. "At first, I was treating this relationship like it was… going to end," Miller-Keyes told Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti during a May 2020 episode of their Almost Famous podcast. "And that way, I was preparing my heart, because I couldn't take that heartbreak again. I was like, 'You know, he's probably going to get tired of me soon.'"

But the relationship did last, and by Dec. 2019, fans started to wonder if wedding bells were in their future. For Unglert, marriage wasn't around the corner... or even down the road. "That's never going to happen," he told Us Weekly when asked about the possibility of tying the knot with Miller-Keyes. "She does joke around about us getting married all the time, and I always say, 'Sorry, it's not going to happen.'" Yikes. Tell us how you really feel, Deanie.

Things apparently changed after Unglert broke his femur during a ski accident, which occurred soon after his harsh Us Weekly interview. According to fellow BIP alum Jared Haibon, the accident brought the couple closer together than ever. "I think the accident could have played a huge role in [bringing them closer]," Haibon told People in Feb. 2020. "Caelynn did fly out to Switzerland to be with him after that whole thing went down. And it's certainly a terrifying experience to break your leg in a foreign country. Somebody you really care about put so much effort in — I think that shows a lot."

However, not even Haibon and his wife, Ashley Iaconetti, knew the couple's actual relationship status. "They honestly won't tell us for real [whether or not they're married], which is really funny, but completely true," Iaconetti revealed to Us Weekly in April 2020. "[We think] that they had like some commitment ceremony in Europe. It's not a legal marriage, but they're, like, committed long term."

Whether there was an actual ceremony or not, Unglert made it clear during The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons—Ever! that the rings symbolize a "domestic partnership," not marriage. "In my opinion, I don't need the title of husband to show the world that I'm committed to one person," Unglert said. Miller-Keyes agreed, adding, "He started wearing a hair tie around his ring finger to fight women off. I liked the idea, and we just talked about getting rings. It's just nice to know we are in a strong committed relationship without necessarily having to get the government involved, as Dean would like to say."

It seems like these two are finally seeing eye-to-eye on where they stand. I'm still not sure why Miller-Keyes seemingly confirmed both engagement rumors and marriage rumors in the past, but whatever — these two seem happy, and I'm happy for them.