New cast announcements for the latest Bachelor spin-off were released on Monday, and they have all of Bachelor Nation talking. There's plenty to dissect about the 23 competitors announced so far, but first thing's first — who is Christian from Winter Games? He's one of the 11 male contestants who isn't from the American version of the franchise, so you're forgiven for not recognizing him right away. But his gaze in his photo is so piercing that you aren't likely to forget him, now that you've met.
From what was released to The Bachelor's Facebook page, all that we know about him is that Christian is 34-years-old and from Die Bachelorette, which is what The Bachelorette is called in Germany. (Although, it's worth noting that he's the only contestant to have two countries listed — his photo's caption reads "Switzerland and Germany" — so it's likely that he has ties to both.)
According to German magazine Schweizer Illustrierte, Christian competed for the heart of a woman named Frieda Hodel in the show's first season, which aired in 2014, and won. However, his relationship with Hodel was short-lived. The same magazine identifies him as Christian Rauch, and Reality Steve reportedly gleaned a link to his Instagram. (The blogger claims to have cobbled together information about the contestant via reader emails from international Bachelor fans who watched Christian's season, so take that as you will.)
The 34-year-old's Instagram handle appears to be @christan_rauch, and, by clicking through it, we can learn a lot about him. Like many contestants on the American version of the franchise, he's a personal trainer. And presumably one who works for himself, if he has the ability to take time off to do these shows. He claims to live in Zurich, although he appears to vacation frequently, he loves a hashtag, and he seems to have a bit of a sense of humor as well.
If you're looking for someone to compare him to on this side of the pond, we'd say he looks sort of like a European Sean Lowe, no? He has the hair, the scattered stubble, the strong jawline, and the clean-cut good looks. And if he gets lucky, he'll have half the success that the Season 17 star enjoyed in America; Lowe is currently married to his final pick, Catherine Giudici, and the two have a son, Samuel, with another on the way.
But one thing we can learn without delving into Christian's Instagram is that he's a very busy boy, as evidenced by the fact that he has an entirely different background from the rest of the contestants. And we're not talking about where he comes from or what he likes to do. We're referring specifically to the background in his official cast photo. This man of mystery is set against a white backdrop instead of the beige of the other contestants.
As if that wasn't enough of a head-scratcher, he's dressed differently than his fellow contestants, to boot. Ten out of 11 of the male contestants have on a navy zip-up, their country's flag on the left breast, and the zipper partially undone to show the plain black T-shirt underneath. But not so with Christian. He's wearing vaguely the right colors, but his navy and black comes in the form of a coat with fur but no flag, and no artful unzipping. Instead, he stands in a bleak white light, staring unsmiling into the camera. Smoldering into it, if you will. It's obvious that the photo was taken at a separate time and in a separate location than Christian's fellow competitors.
And since we haven't had a full season in which to observe the 34-year-old, we have to draw our own conclusions. Maybe he was doing something impressive and mysterious like scaling a glacier or personal-training an assassin. In any case, we'll keep our eyes peeled for more clues about this enigma so that we can learn everything possible about him in advance of the Feb. 13 premiere.
