Say it ain’t so!! My absolute favorite couple from The Bachelor franchise, Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, have called it quits.  There had been much media scrutiny about their long (18-month) engagement, but Ali deflected it saying they were happy putting off a wedding and just getting to know each other better.

Ali, Season 6 Bachelorette star, chose Roberto Martinez a Florida native.  She had narrowed her search for love down to Roberto and fan favorite, Chris Lambton, letting Lambton go before the final rose ceremony to declare her adoration for Roberto. Looks like it worked out for Lambton (see previous post).  Roberto and Ali it appears haven’t been so lucky in love.

Roberto stole my heart on his hometown date when he took Ali to his Alma Mater’s baseball field.  And, no, it wasn’t just the baseball pants that made me fall madly in love with him, although it helped…a lot.  As one of his old coaches put it, “He has that Rico Suave look to him…drew a lot of attention…but was always very humble about it.” Roberto (who played baseball in the minor leagues) successfully charmed Ali, the beautiful girl-next-door from Massachusetts (who was a Facebook ad exec in SF before the show).  You can watch part of their burgeoning love story below…(sidebar: see what I mean about the baseball pants?)

(Skip to 2:00)

Check out the behind-the-scenes taping for that date here.

Back to the Break-up: After some Twitter stalking, I didn’t find any hints of their break-up looming.  Roberto hadn’t tweeted about Ali and their relationship since Nov 3rd when he posted the following tweet.  No indication of their relationship being on the rocks, though.

Ali also remained relatively silent on the Twitter front.  Her last few tweets (see below) could be referencing the break-up, but looks like they’re keeping it hush-hush.  The couple’s rep released the following statement, “Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez have ended their relationship.  As they go through this difficult time, we ask that you respect the couple’s privacy.” …Good luck with that.