Bachelor in Paradise has been in the rear view mirror for nearly a month now, and the new season of The Bachelor is still over a month away. (It premiers on January 23, 2023.) How are the citizens of Bachelor Nation expected to entertain themselves in the meantime?
In between watching Hallmark movies and eating way too many cookies, we can pass the time discussing the various alums. People revealed who will be helping new Bachelor Zach Shallcross find his lady love.
ABC premiered the first trailer for the upcoming season on the Bachelor In Paradise finale. “Get ready for what promises to be a wild journey filled with love, heartbreak and many, many tears,” host Jesse Palmer said, introducing the clip. So business as usual then?
The promo begins with the standard images of Zach lifting weights shirtless and taking a shower (also shirtless, of course), where he gets some cringeworthy help with the loofah from former Bachelor Sean Lowe.
“Got some friction with the stubble there,” Sean remarks as he scrubs Zach‘s toned abs. Scenes follow of Zach doing Bachelor stuff: riding on a sailboat, drinking champagne in a hot tub, jumping out of a helicopter and kissing various women in various exotic locations around the world. “These women are amazing,” Zach exclaimed.
Even though he’s young for a Bachelor at only 26 years old, the California tech executive, who we first met on Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey‘s season of The Bachelorette, knows what he’s looking for in a partner.
He said, “What I’m looking for is my best friend, that person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want my forever person. I want my partner. That’s why I’m here,” Zach added.
Of course, no Bachelor‘s quest for love would be complete without the tears, and the new season (and Jesse Palmer) promise plenty of those.
The women don’t take it well (they never do) when Bachelor alum Tahzjuan Hawkins ,who was eliminated the first night on Colton Underwood‘s season, arrives, intending to join the competition for Zach‘s affections.
“Tahzjuan is here to steal my man,” one of the women remarked.
She shouldn’t worry. Historically, no Bachelor or Bachelorette has ever ended up with one of these recycled contestants brought in merely to cause drama. They can make some serious waves, though (I’m looking at you, Nick Viall).
[Sidebar: Isn’t it amazing how quickly the women become possessive of someone they’ve just met? Classic case was BIP‘s Jill Chin threatening that if “her man” Jacob Rapini even talked to another girl while she was sequestered with the OG women at the hotel, she would “shoot his **** off,” after only having known him a couple of weeks. Yikes!]
BIP alum Victoria Fuller confirmed in the teaser that Tahzjuan “really is into [Zach].”
Further into the trailer, Zach confessed, “I feel like a failure. I feel like I let myself down, and I feel like I let the women down.”
Zach has previously said that he doesn’t plan to allow for much drama on his season. LOL, isn’t that cute? He thinks he can control how they edit him. What would this show be without drama?
“I know it’s kind of inevitable when you’re in a house with 30 others, and there’s going to be arguments or conversations that don’t go that well, but I’m not a fan of the drama,” the Cal Poly graduate said. Has he seen this show? It’s 90% about the drama.
“If there’s a lot of drama going on in the house, what it tells me is that they’re not really serious, and why they’re there is probably more for finding internet fame or whatever it is. So I’ll probably be pretty quick to cut that out,”he stated.
Good luck with that, Zach. You may try to cut it out, but you can be sure that Mike Fleiss will leave it in.
Nevertheless, Zach says he’s very hopeful about finding his soulmate on The Bachelor. “I’m more than excited for this. And I’m very optimistic that I’m going to find my person,” he stated.
I hope he’s right. It’s always more satisfying when two people wade through all the BS on this show and actually find a lasting relationship. Truly, good luck, Zach! Can’t wait to watch.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK ZACH IS MATURE ENOUGH TO BE THE BACHELOR AT JUST 26? DO YOU THINK TAHZJUAN WILL LAST MORE THAN ONE EPISODE?
[Photo Credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images]