Bachelor fans all over the world were a bit confused when Arie Luyendyk Jr. was announced as the newest Bachelor back in September, considering his appearance on The Bachelorette was nearly five years ago.
But according to former bachelor Sean Lowe, Arie was actually this close to nabbing the role back in 2015. I’ve been lobbying for Arie forever,” Lowe, who competed with Arie for Emily Maynard’s heart on season eight of The Bachelorette told Entertainment Tonight. “I think they actually told him he was going to be the Bachelor the year they told Christ Soules. They even filmed some of [Arie’s] intro package in Arizona and ultimately pulled the rug out from underneath him in the end.”
This isn’t the first time Lowe has gushed about his pal. “Arie has got a great personality,” Lowe said to Us Weekly. “He’s kind of quirky. He knows he’s nerdy, which I think is endearing. He definitely doesn’t play the cool guy part. He knows who he is and doesn’t put on any fronts. He’s just a nerdy race car driver.”
Luyendyk says Lowe, who found love with Catherine Giudici during his own stint as the Bachelor, also apparently offered him some advice. “I think the best piece of advice was just to be present in every conversation and really make the person who you’re talking to in that moment feel like they’re the only one there,” Arie recently told Her Campus on a conference call interview. “I think that was really important for me, just to make sure I was a good listener and that I was involved in every conversation, and made them [the contestants] feel like they weren’t just one out of 29.”
Many Bachelor fans were shocked when the announcement of the newest Bachelor broke, mainly because many did not even know who he was. Fans were hoping that one of the fan favorites from Rachel Lindsay’s season, Peter Krause, would appear as the Bachelor. For anyone that has only started watching the franchise in the past few years Luyendyk is an interesting choice, but we’ll just have to see where it goes. I for one cannot wait for the newest season. Is it January 1 yet?