Entertainment
It is one of the great philosophical questions of our time: Why might someone audition for The Bachelor or Bachelorette? It is a question that does not have one specific answer, but an array of explanations that vary in tone and intent. A rose thorn-trimmed tapestry of reasons. Like a riddle on one of Chris Harrison's date cards, it is not to be taken lightly.
Before you apply for The Bachelor or Bachelorette, it is important to iron some things out beforehand— and no, not just your audition suit. It is crucial to figure out if you will jot your actual job title down on the show application, or if you are going to put on a straight face and introduce yourself to the casting directors as an “Amateur String Cheese Influencer/Enthusiast." Will you go with a very Bachelor/ette jewel-toned silk blouse, or are you going to go out on a limb and wear something that really pops on camera, like a bedazzled red pleather jumpsuit? And finally, what are your reasons for auditioning?
Are they… the right reasons?
Below you will find what members of Bachelor Nation said when they were asked to share why they auditioned for The Bachelor/ette. Some of the reasons feel like “right” reasons. Some feel like “fun” reasons. All feel like reasons.
1
To Fall In Love With Someone
The Bachelor at 20: A Celebration of Love special from 2016 treated us to Bachelor Season 19 contestant Ashley Salter's audition. In the tape, she told us, "I came up to New York City and fell in love… with the city. But now I want to fall in love with someone."
2
To Find A Companion
In that same ABC special, we see a snippet of Bachelor Season 18 star Clare Crawley. "I don’t want to be alone," she tells the camera. "I don’t want to sit every night and watch Golden Girls for the rest of my life.”
3
To Go Along With Their Family's Plan
On a recent episode of The Ringer's Bachelor Party podcast, The Bachelorette Season 14 runner-up Blake Horstmann told host Juliet Litman that he ended up on the reality show because his mom and sister nominated him. "I was always like, ‘No, no, god, no,’" he shared. "And they nominated me, and it was kind of weird timing because I’d just gotten out of a relationship and I was starting to feel like I could get back out there again.”
4
To Find What They’re Looking For
The Bachelor at 20 also featured a clip of The Bachelorette Season 11 winner Shawn Booth's audition, in which he says, "You know that U2 song ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’? Yeah, that’s me.”
5
To Move On To The Next Phase Of Life
The treasure trove that is The Bachelor at 20 strikes again. Molly Mesnick of The Bachelor Season 13 says in her audition tape that she "had a great experience in college, had all the fun partying" but was looking for a change of pace. She continues,
"Now I’m ready to settle down and move on with my life and get out of that phase and move on to the next.”
6
To Find Mrs. Right
In — yep, you guessed it — The Bachelor at 20, The Bachelorette Season 8's Sean Lowe's audition tape makes a cameo. In the video, he says, “Please, please, please help me find Mrs. Right.” And what do you know, the franchise sure did help him out.
7
To Meet Peter Kraus
Earlier this year, The Bachelor Season 22's Bekah Martinez shared the following anecdote with Entertainment Tonight:
“I’m not joking, when I drove to the casting call I was hung over. I had been up since 4 o'clock in the morning the night before and I was driving to Orange County and I'm like, 'This is for Peter!' I kept telling myself that.”
She went on,
"Then I found out it was Arie I was kind of like, "I don't know who the hell this is, but it's going to be [like] meeting a stranger like anywhere else. I've [met] boyfriends at the gym, through friends, at a bar, whatever, so it's like, 'Well, I'm gonna meet a stranger on TV and just see what happens.’”
I love that.
8
To Get Over A Breakup
Kaitlyn Bristowe of Season 19 revealed on a 2017 episode of her podcast, Off the Vine, that a friend encouraged her to try out for the show to help her move on from a recent breakup. According to Us Weekly, Kaitlyn said she originally auditioned for Juan Pablo Galavis's season, but was not brought in until Chris Soules's round.
9
To Get Free Drinks
In her memoir It's Not Okay, The Bachelor Season 18's Andi Dorfman said she auditioned because a friend told her to. She stuck around for the free drinks, because duh.
10
To Do It Right This Time
The Bachelor at 20 isn't done yet. In his audition tape, JJ Lane of The Bachelorette Season 11 says he would like to "do it right this time" and make up for doing it "wrong last time."
11
To Find Out What The Application Looked Like
When The Bachelor's Season 17 Lesley Murphy went on The Ringer's Bachelor Party podcast, she said she wound up auditioning for the franchise because she just wanted to see what the application was all about. She said,
“I was working in D.C. in politics, and my boss was gone one day. And I was just bored at work and perusing ABC.com, as you do. And one of those banners popped up and it was like, ‘Apply to be on the next Bachelor.’ And I was like, ‘I wonder what this online version form is like. It took me ten minutes, I did not think anything of it. Two days later, they called.”
Lesley rules.
So remember, there's no one right reason. If you are in the mood to fill out a Bachelor application "just because," and do it right this time when you see a pomegranate, all the more power to you.
