Author: Tierney Bricker / Source: E! Online
If ABC had a laboratory somewhere where they could create the perfect prototype for the Bachelor, he would look just like Colton Underwood, the franchise’s official pick for its 23rd season.
Like Emma Stone once shouted at Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love: “It’s like you’re Photoshopped!
” On paper, the 26-year-old is the perfect pick. Come on, just look at the bio that was posted for him on ABC.com when Becca Kufrin‘s contestants for The Bachelorette were announced:Colton was named after the Indianapolis Colts which would turn out to be fitting for this lifelong football player. He played professionally for three teams before an injury forced him to retire. Post-football, Colton has dedicated himself to helping children fighting Cystic Fibrosis. When he’s not working on his charity, he’s spending time with his family and his dog, Sniper.
It’s like a next Bachelor mad libs! They may as well have started fitting him for his Bachelor suits right then and there and started trimming the rose bush to stock up for the next season.
Of course, who knew the amount of drama Colton would end up providing between his run on The Bachelorette and on Bachelor in Paradise season five.
While most viewers are wary of the contestants that choose to go on the show–cynically (and realistically) believing that are in it for the social media followers and Insta-fame—Colton was one that savvy bachelor Nation fans were especially suspicious of, thanks to his dating history.
Colton’s first brush with dating in the public eye came in 2016, when he was with the Oakland Raiders and asked out 2016 Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman in an online video. (His then-teammate Andrew West is married to her fellow Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson.)
After saying she would definitely go on a date with him, the pair dated for six months, even walking red carpets together before breaking up due to their busy schedules.
“We’re still good friends and talk, but all that travel had been a nightmare,” he told the PJ Star of their split, before going on to say the way they got together definitely “put a lot of pressure” on them. “But we had fun with it.”
In interviews after the video went viral, Colton seemed surprise that such a wooing tactic would get so much attention.
“I was just asking a girl on a date and it sort of turned into something much bigger,” Underwood he said.
Cut to two years later and Colton’s relationship with the Olympic gymnast didn’t even come up on the show…but his brief history with another Bachelor Nation fan-favorite definitely did.
Before Arie Luyendyk Jr. decided to pull off one of the biggest shockers in recent reality TV history—inadvertently handing producers their storyline for their next season—Tia Booth was all but set to be the Bachelorette after making it to his final four.
Prior to Arie’s season airing, Colton and Tia began interacting on Instagram, as producers asked him to tell them his top three from Arie’s contestants, based purely on looks, during his casting session. (He picked Becca, Tia and Lauren Burnham.) After that, he followed all three women on Instagram, with Tia following him back soon after.
They started talking soon after when Tia DMed him about his Instagram Story about Stranger Things and began texting, with Colton giving her the heads up that he was in talks to be on The Bachelorette.
But their flirtation was taken to the next level in January, when they spent his birthday weekend together in Los Angeles, with Colton renting an AirBnB. “It was a great date, great weekend,” Colton said, adding that they left the weekend knowing they weren’t ready to close out other options, with Tia saying she would still say yes if she was offered the Bachelorette gig.
When Becca was announced as the Bachelorette and Colton decided to go on, he said Tia texted him wishing him good luck just two days before filming began…but just a few weeks later, Colton came face-to-face with Tia on a group date just after revealing their history to Becca, one of her closest friends.
Though the three sat down and hashed everything out, with Tia saying she was cool with her BFF and her sort-of ex continuing to date, Colton was later “blindsided” when he learned Tia returned during the Hometown dates to tell Becca she still had feelings for Colton. Becca then sent Colton home, but insisted Tia’s confession had nothing to do with her decision.
Colton’s history with Tia and his headline-making admittance that he is a virgin—a bit more on that later—made him a target for the other men, leading to some tension during The Bachelorette‘s Men Tell All taping. Many viewers were surprised by hos defensive and combative Colton was, with some…
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