I’m going to level with you: I’ve never been a huge Bachelor fan. Sans for a few gals that seem like they’ve got their sh*t together (Becca Kufrin and Kaitlyn Bristowe come to mind), I tend to find many of the contestants, both male and female, to be basic, shoow or even — gasp! — seriously douchey. (I’m looking at you, Jed Wyatt and Luke Parker!)
Season 23 Bachelor lead Colton Underwood couldn’t be seemingly further removed from all of that, however. Maybe it’s his Midwest roots — the former football player grew up right here, in Washington, Illinois — or his youthful innocence (at just 27 years old, I still consider Colton to be a youngin’!), but upon interviewing him for Us Weekly in downtown Chicago last week week about his partnership with “T-MoBell” (T-Mobile’s three-day pop-up shop with Taco Bell), I found him to be … relatively normal. In fact, I’d venture to say he was genuinely nice — downright humble, even!
Not only did he put on zero airs, he gave open, thoughtful answers to every. single. one of my questions — even when I grilled him about the hard stuff, like Bachelorette Hannah Brown’s unfortunate pick of a fiancé, or former costar Blake Horstmann’s upcoming cringe-worthy Bachelor in Paradise love triangle (er, square?).
Check out what he had to say below!
On girlfriend Cassie Randolph: “I would say [our June vacation to] Bermuda was by far, like, the best week of our relationship post-show. That was our first vacation since the ending of the show, so we’ve been really, really busy. … We were getting to do all these fun events … and we never really get to sit with it and like, really enjoy it and feel it. It’s always like, OK, now onto the next one. Or … you’re like, on a plane headed here, and then you have to look at your schedule, and she’s doing school and homework, and we never really got to just reflect on everything that we did. And in Bermuda, we had the chance to really, like, sit down with each other, reflect on what we’ve done, reflect on our relationship, what we like, what we don’t like, what we can do better at in it. … It was really, really [good] for us to sort of just figure out where we’re going next.”
On rumors Peter Weber also dumped his girlfriend to be season 15 of The Bachelorette: “Relating to Peter’s situation and Jed’s situation, it’s two different things: Jed actually had a girlfriend while he was on the show, Peter broke up with his to go on the show. … I went on for the experience. I went on to have a good time. I went on to have fun and it was an unbelievable opportunity, in my mid-20s to sort of take a chance and a risk, so I don’t think there’s any problem with someone going on for an experience. … [But] I’ve openly said before I think what Jed did was very wrong.” (Read more on his feelings about Jed and why Hannah missed his “red flags” on Us Weekly here.)
On former costar Blake Horstmann getting caught romancing multiple ladies on this season of BiP: “I know it took a toll on him, being there. I can relate though, because I went through, you know, my own drama on that show as well, and it’s not the easiest of environments. It’s really hot, and there’s a lot of things going on, so I feel for Blake.” (Read more on Colton’s predications for pal Caelynn Miller-Keyes on Us here.)
On his hilarious old age Bachelor pic: “A lot of the comments were like, ‘You sort of look like Cassie’s dad,’ um, so that was sort of funny — I don’t’ think she found that funny! But you know what? She thought I still looked good for my old age, so hopefully I still have that same amount of hair that it showed me I was gonna have if I have to pay for it or not!”
On his favorite Bachelor Nation couple: “Jason [Tartick] and Kaitlyn are our closet couple friends, we went out to dinner with them and … they just moved in together in Nashville, so they’re doing things the right way. … It’s always exciting to see that — you always root for each other’s success in the franchise. … I feel like so often, the public tries to tear you down or question it to see how real it is, and it’s like, still real. Just because it plays out publicly, doesn’t you know, make it any less real.”
On ex Becca Kufrin: “I invited her and Garrett [Yrigoyen] over [recently]. I’m very close with both of them. They’re awesome people.” (Read more about how Becca helped him get through The Bachelor on Us here.)
On what’s next for him: “I’m continuing to really sink my teeth into the [Colton Underwood Legacy] Foundation. … I’m really refocusing and re-energizing my efforts into that. And then I’m also working on a few special projects that I’m not quite ready to announce yet, but it’s gonna be very, very exciting when those do come out. It’s been a a lot of hard work and a lot of effort tin something that I can really take pride in.”
Who’s your favorite former Bachelor? Tell me in the comments below!
Xo, Nicole
