The 23rd fkn season of The Bachelor US starts on January 7 and it’s spicy enough that we’re gonna report on it rn because the bloke they’ve chosen is potentially, maybe, very likely a capital V Virgin.
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Retired footballer Colton Underwood came fourth on the 2018 season of The Bachelorette, and admitted about halfway through the show that he’s actually a virgin – not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Here’s how he explained the moment to People yesterday, and how he didn’t anticipate what a schmozzle it would cause.
“I had no plans to share that I was a virgin. It was something in the moment with Becca. It was important for her to know. I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal but obviously, a lot of people latched onto that.”
Another zesty tidbit: Underwood previously dated Tia Booth, who appeared on The Bachelor herself last year. He was dropped from The Bachelorette by Becca Kufrin after hometown dates because Booth showed up – Unreal style – to tell Kufrin she still had feelings for Underwood.
Both Underwood and Booth then appeared on Bachelor in Paradise, but failed to fully rekindle their romance, and both bailed out, single, in week four.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrEmcA-HVX4/
Look, the show’s leaning into the narrative, producing a Steve Carrell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin movie poster knock-off to sell the show.
“What does he have to lose?” screams the tagline.
“HIS VIRGINITY,” screams back America.
Guys, it’s exactly the same, he’s just holding a rose. Uncanny.
Image source: Universal.
Now the American media are trying to ascertain if maybe Underwood is not a virgin anymore (???) and also WTF is gonna go down during the Fantasy Suite episode, where the final three are each usually offered an overnight date, with no cameras.
But Refinery29 writes that sometimes they just get to know each other away from producers/cameras, or alternatively just fall tf to sleep because it is 4am and they have to start filming again real soon. They’re not necessarily bumping uglies.
People posed the question of the Fantasy Suites to Underwood directly, and he handled it well:
It’s no surprise to me that people are going to view the Fantasy Suites as this big week for me. People are probably going to put a lot of pressure [on it]… but for me, it was more about the private moments.
It’s the first time you get to spend with somebody off camera and you can really get to know them and ask the weird questions you might not otherwise. I treat it like another date, an opportunity to get to know someone on an intimate level.
He’s not even the first virgin to appear on the show – although he’s the first to lead the franchise, after a whole stack of mostly female Bachelor contestants were open about being abstinent on the series. One of those, Ashley Iaconetti, is actually engaged now to Jared Haibon, a dude she on-again-off-again dated on American Paradise in 2015, but only started dating IRL in 2018 – and who appeared on our first season last year (!!!). REMEMBER.
One guy Sean Lowe, back in 2013, was the Bachelor after having been celibate since he was 24 – which isn’t exactly the same, but was billed as a Virgin Bachelor.
The reason why Underwood is still holding his V plates is also under speculation, Underwood hinting that there’s a “serious reason” why he decided to hold onto them – and that will be revealed this season.
Ultimately Underwood told People being a virgin is but a “small part of who I am“.
“It’s a decision I consciously made, but it’s just something that makes me into who I am. There is a stigma around athletes and I think the more that us as humans can do to break those, the better.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnuAF_RHmVm/
