Rachael Kirkconnell Thought She 'Disappointed' Matt James by Choosing 'Bad' Restaurant the Night Before 'Blindsiding' Breakup

Mar. 15, 2025

Rachael Kirkconnell and Matt James.Photo:Ethan Miller - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty

Ethan Miller - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty

Rachael Kirkconnellis dishing on how a restaurant was involved in her andMatt James’ split.

On the latest episode ofCall Her Daddy, Kirkconnell told hostAlex Cooperall about James’ “shocking” breakup. Looking back on the breakup, which happened two weeks ago, the 28-year-old said the tension started the night before.

The pair, who had been together for four years, were in Japan earlier this month and initially “nothing was wrong.” “The night before, we didn’t have an argument, but I was feeling very overwhelmed,” Kirkconnell told Cooper during the Jan. 29 episode, explaining that the couple filmed “literally every single meal” because it was “his career.” James had evenposted a restaurant reviewfrom their trip to London on Jan. 15, one day before the pair broke up. “I just put so much pressure on myself to find good spots if I’m the one that’s finding a spot," she explained.

According to Kirkconnell, she was “overwhelmed with looking for a dinner spot for an hour” and asked him for help and the 33-year-old refused and said “It doesn’t matter.” “But I felt like it was a big deal and that it did matter. So we get to this place, it wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be,” she recalled. Kirkconnell said she cried “two tears” and thatThe Bachelorseason 25 finalists supposedly didn’t speak the whole meal and then they went home.

Matt James food reviews.Matt James/Instagram

Matt James/Instagram

When they were back at their hotel, he asked why she was so upset and was “not very comforting” as she tried to explain that she felt like she was “disappointing him.”

Despite the tension, Kirkconnell said everything was fine when the couple went to bed. They were irritated with one another the following day and had a conversation about their “little” annoyances, which spiraled into something bigger.

Rachael Kirkconnell and Matt James on Season 25 of ABC’s ‘The Bachelor’.Craig Sjodin via Getty

Craig Sjodin via Getty

Kirkconnell said James told her, “There were just qualities about me that he worries about having in a wife. Like at the end of the day, there are things that we aren’t compatible with. And the whole accountability and saying sorry and all that was really the main thing.”

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James ended things with her and Kirkconnell immediately went to the airport to fly back to Atlanta. Only two hours after their conversation while preparing for takeoff she saw the former NCAA football player’s cryptic Instagram post announcing their breakup, she told Cooper.

Before this private and public split, the pair had been seemingly on the verge of a potential engagement. Kirkconnell said they were talking about wedding ring shopping and engagement plans in the months leading up to the split.

In February 2024,James told PEOPLE the couple were aligned about their plans to get married. “We wouldn’t be together if that wasn’t the same goal,” he said. “I’m definitely excited for what the future looks like with us.”

He also said that when it came time to propose, it would “be something special because Rachael’s very special.”

source: people.com