'Bachelor in Paradise''s Serene Russell and Brandon Jones End Engagement: 'Immensely Hard to Accept'

Jones proposed to Russell during the season 8 finale of Bachelor in Paradise, which aired in November 2022

It's over for a Bachelor in Paradise fan-favorite couple.

Serene Russell and Brandon Jones — who got engaged during the season 8 finale of BiP, which aired in November 2022 — announced their breakup in a joint Instagram post Monday evening.

"After many months, today we have ultimately decided to end our engagement," Russell, 27, and Jones, 28, wrote in the caption.

"We have tried to work privately on our relationship which has been incredibly challenging in the public eye," they continued. "This has been immensely hard to accept and painful, as there is a lot of love between the two of us."

The pair concluded, "We are deeply hurting and can only ask that there be no hate. The best path for us at this time is to try and move forward and heal from this as individuals."

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Fans were shocked to hear of the couple's troubles and their split, particularly since they were open about their plans for marriage soon after their engagement last fall.

Russell told PEOPLE in November that they were "really excited for wedding planning," and revealed that they'd already settled on a timeline.

​​"We've landed on 2024, and we're starting to think what time of year we want to get married in, what kind of wedding we like, do we want it more in the day or at night? We're starting to have these fun little conversations," she said. "But right now, we're really excited to get to do the holidays together, and be in public and be normal."

Despite the whirlwind of their relationship on BiP, Russell said that she felt confident saying "yes" to Jones' proposal.

"The fact that we were spending so much time together every day — I mean, it was a lot — we had a lot of time to have those conversations," she told PEOPLE following the season finale. "I was at ease about an engagement, and that was something I've never expected in my life. I was more excited than nervous."

The proposal itself was one of the season's most emotional moments, with Jones telling Russell, "Serene, I love you and I will love you until the end of time. I will love you until my last breath and I want to start forever with you and that starts with making you my forever."

Russell also shared her deep affection for her fiancé in the finale episode.

"You came into my life and showed me that your love is so much more than the love I had dreamt of all those years," she told Jones. "I feel like we have two hearts cut from the same cloth and I have never felt more seen or understood in my entire life."

Russell added, "In you, I found my best friend, my missing puzzle piece and my soulmate."

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Since the season began airing, the couple had been living together in San Diego.

"We jumped at the chance for that," Russell said. "We're like, no one is deciding how much time we spend together anymore. Not after split week."

Jones later told PEOPLE that it felt "good" to "finally relax and be ourselves" after months of keeping their relationship a secret while the season was still airing.

"We were wearing wigs and everything like that, trying to sneak out to dinner and stuff," he said of their time together before the finale. "So it's been fun, it's been exciting."

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The pair had also been making time to integrate their families, having spent Thanksgiving with Russell's family in Oklahoma and Christmas with Jones' family in Oregon.

Jones said at the time that he and his fiancée were "enjoying the engagement" as they began stepping out for events publicly together for the first time.

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