Lauren Pounds and Nate Ruggles had a short-lived journey in The Ultimatum. He proposed to her during The Choice episode before getting a chance to pick their practice spouses. During the reunion episode — where viewers got an update on where the couples are these days — Nate was called out by the cast for compromising his desire to have kids for Lauren. He initially gave her the ultimatum because she didn't want to have kids. So are they still getting married? Have they reached an agreement about having kids? Here's what we know.
Are Lauren & Nate From 'The Ultimatum' Still Together?
People weren't thrilled to see Nate propose to Lauren in episode 2 since it seemed like he just ran out of options for a trial wife. Still, Lauren happily said yes, and they left the show together. "I've learned through this that I don't have a family without you," Nate said during the proposal. "And as long as I spend the rest of my life with you, that's all I want. There's no one else that I could imagine myself being with besides you for the rest of my life." Their co-stars were shocked at the time. But during the reunion, Nate addressed his controversial proposal, saying that "no one held a candle to Lauren, to me."
"This experience and I said this before, did help me," he stated. "It made me realize all these amazing people here, all the great dates that I went on with Shanique, April, every one of ya'll–I met so many amazing people. Still, no one held a candle to Lauren, to me." Lauren also defended her fiancé during an interview with Today. "The way that it looked is obviously not good," she said of the proposal. "It's easy to say, 'He's just a mess, and he can't make up his mind … But Nathan's a good person, and he has good intentions. In that moment, he was just like, 'What do I do?'"
She also revealed that she had told Nate not to propose to her in the show. "It was super unexpected," she recalled. "I had told him not to. I was like, 'Don't do that. You're going to get in trouble. People are going to be mad at you.'" However, she said, "Nathan does what Nathan wants to do anyway." At one point, she also had a hard time in the show, so Nathan texted her about his plans of just leaving together "I told him how depressed I was," she shared. "I was crying and not able to sleep, and was regretting coming on. He was like, 'I'm just gonna propose to you, and let's just ride off into the sunset. And let's figure everything out.'"
She added that the proposal wasn't fake. "Nathan does not cry," she said. "I have only seen him cry two times in his entire life. So I started crying. And so I was like, 'Oh, he really means this.' In that moment, it felt really nice." As for the cast's reaction to that proposal, she said she didn't pay attention to it because she was happy in that moment. "What came after it did not feel very nice because we got a lot of backlash for it," she continued. "But I tried to hold on to those few moments where he was on his knee and I just felt really happy. That's all that matters, I guess"
Did Lauren & Nate From 'The Ultimatum' Agree Not To Have Kids?
During the reunion, Nick Lachey asked Nate if he could live with the possibility of not having kids with Lauren. Their co-star, Alexis Maloney also asked if they're planning to have kids or not. "Not yet," Nate responded. Lauren added, "We have agreed to have one for now." Later, she clarified her stance on having kids in a caption for her Instagram post featuring her and Nate. "As far as our decision on kids, it needs to be understood that I never said that I didn't want children, I said that I was on the fence about them," she explained.
"We worked through our obstacle off camera," she continued. "And our decision to have 1 child was come to with love and careful consideration, not force or sacrifice. I just turned 30 and have always said that 33 sounds like a good age to become a mom, so we're holding off a little longer. We have been together for 3 1/2 amazing years, filled with so much adventure and laughter, and I can't imagine doing life with anyone else." Nate also addressed their controversial engagement on his Instagram post, saying: "Lots of people find love, not very many find their perfect person. I'm so thankful to find both in this amazing girl."
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