'Bachelor in Paradise' star Becca Kufrin reveals why she kept the engagement ring her ex Garrett Yrigoyen gave her: 'It means so much more'

• Becca Kufrin told Insider she kept the engagement ring that her ex Garrett Yrigoyen gave her.
• The couple split in September 2020, more than two years after he proposed on "The Bachelorette."
• Kufrin is now looking for love again on the new season of "Bachelor in Paradise."

Becca Kufrin is hoping to find love again in front of Bachelor Nation, surprising fans with the news that she'd be appearing on this season of "Bachelor in Paradise."

But the former "Bachelorette" star, whose first appearance in "Paradise" aired on Tuesday, revealed to Insider earlier this year that she still had the engagement ring she received on the finale of her season.

Kufrin was engaged to Garrett Yrigoyen for more than two years before they split in September 2020.

A post shared by Becca Kufrin (@bkoof)

Kufrin told Insider in January that her engagement ring was still sitting on her dresser and "a thousand different ideas" had crossed her mind for what to do with it.

"Some people who have been in my position still have their rings because it's a great remembrance of their time and the memories on the show, which I understand," Kufrin said. "For a hot second I was like, do I sell it and donate all of the money to some charity? Do I sell it and put it towards a down payment on a house?"

"Yes it's a ring from my ex-partner, but it also, to me, means so much more," she added. "The show has changed my life. I have lasting, amazing memories from the people I've met on the show. So I can't do anything with it yet, it still holds some really happy memories."

Yrigoyen and Kufrin's relationship in the real world got off to a rocky start. Shortly after her season premiered in May 2018, it was revealed that Yrigoyen had liked Instagram posts mocking transgender people, immigrant children, and a school shooting victim.

Kufrin was by Yrigoyen's side when he apologized on her season's "After the Final Rose" special. She told Insider in January that prior to their breakup, she and Yrigoyen lived in "this white privilege bubble," and it wasn't until the pandemic and murder of George Floyd that the couple "started really having different types of conversations."

Yrigoyen's Instagram activity made headlines once again when he posted in support of police as Black Lives Matter protests spread across the US in June 2020. The couple broke off their engagement three months later.

Kufrin told Insider that the breakup didn't come down to one Instagram post. But she had spent the summer asking herself tough questions about their differences.

"I was like, what's important to me? What's important to him?" she recalled. "Are we going to be able to make a lasting relationship for a lifetime off of our differences?"

Kufrin said she learned a lot from the experience. And if she were to do "The Bachelorette" over again, the very first question she would ask every contestant is who they voted for in the presidential election.

Now, Kufrin will get that chance on "Bachelor in Paradise" - although interestingly, she had no plans to go on the spin-off show back in January.

"I don't think I would ever be a contestant on 'Bachelor in Paradise,'" she told Insider at that time with a laugh. "I could make a great bartender/therapist person to go to, but as a contestant? No."