LI 'Bachelorette' fans weigh in on who Becca Kufrin should choose

Will Becca Kufrin "pull an Arie" on the season 14 finale of "The Bachelorette,” airing Monday, Aug. 6 at 8 p.m. on ABC?

The 28-year-old Minnesota publicist announced in May she is indeed engaged to either Blake Horstmann, a 28-year-old Coors sales rep from Bailey, Colorado, or controversial front-runner Garrett Yrigoyen, a 29-year-old divorced surgical-tech salesman from Reno, Nevada. But she didn't specify whether she’s marrying the winner or the runner-up, and rumors have been flying like the common loon. You know, the Minnesota state bird.

Kufrin, as fans of the "Bachelor / Bachelorette" franchise know, had endured heartbreak after Arie Luyendyk Jr. rescinded his proposal on the season 22 finale of "The Bachelor," deciding he really preferred second-placer Lauren Burnham. It made Kufrin realize, she later said, that she wanted "somebody who's genuine, who can still be themselves and open up and be vulnerable and really go through the entire journey and show me who they really are. And I found that."

Complicating matters, however, is Yrigoyen having "liked" social-media memes that mocked transgender people, feminists, the Black Lives Matter movement, undocumented children and others, including Parkland massacre survivor David Hogg, whom a post had falsely deemed a "crisis actor." Yrigoyen subsequently apologized, writing on Instagram, "I am sorry to those who I offended, and I also take full responsibility for my 'likes' on Instagram that were hurtful and offensive."

Will that controversy affect her decision? Does it color how Bachelor Nation sees him? And most importantly, what does Bachelor Long Island think?

"She should pick Garrett because he truly loves her and cried about the thought of losing her," Sharon Palarino of Lindenhurst posted on Newsday's online forum for the finale. "Her first impression rose was given to him, and that usually ends up to be the winner."

Conversely, wrote Valerie Howit-Winter of Long Beach, "I think that [she] should choose Blake because he has never been married. He seems more sure of himself and the whole experience will be a new one for him . . . decision-making should be a shared experience between the two of you. Compromise, compromise, compromise is what marriage is about."

As for Yrigoyen's tears, "Garrett cries too much and I don't like it. I don't like his reaction to things," Howit-Winter said, adding that she wished Kufrin "happiness & joy."

But a second voice from Lindenhurst prefers Yrigoyen as well, with Grace Abate of that village writing, "Garrett! He's ready to be a husband, father, partner, person to Becca!"

Farmingdale's Camille Ramos disagrees. "Blake is the way she should go!" she writes, calling Yrigoyen "the wrong choice." She later told Newsday in an email follow-up, "If all the guys hated Garrett he must be a DOG!! Sadly Becca doesn’t see it!"

Jennifer Iadanza of Huntington Station, however, "would love to have a guy like Garrett in my life!!" and notes that "he won the heart of Becca from the start with the first impression rose and they grew more and more fond of each other as the weeks went on."

What does Becca think? "When I look at Garrett, I see my heart's equal," she said on the July 23 episode, "and I see someone who will make a great father and a really loving husband. I think I will be able to rely on him no matter what . . . and there is something very special about him." That same episode, she told Blake he was "the most solid and the most consistent" of all the suitors, "to the point I felt you were too good to be true."

Our prediction? That whomever she marries, at her wedding they'll be throwing wild rice. You know, the Minnesota state grain.