ABC Abigail Heringer with Matt James on the season premiere of The Bachelor.
Abigail Heringer is a contestant on season 25 of The Bachelor, and she’s expected to be an early frontrunner in the competition for Matt James’ heart.
“Abigail is one of our favorites,” show host Chris Harrison said when he introduced the cast in December. “This is an absolute gem of a woman and impossible not to fall in love with… Just a beautiful, sincere, true definition of someone here for the right reasons.”
So who is the 25-year-old Oregonian? Here are five things to know about Heringer:
1. Abigail Heringer Is Hearing Impaired
When Harrison introduced the cast of The Bachelor he revealed that Heringer will be the first hearing impaired contestant in the show’s history. The second if you include Lily McManus, a contestant on New Zealand’s version of the show, who wore hearing aids due to hearing loss. McManus later competed on The Bachelor Winter Games.
But Heringer is a first for the American version of the show.
In an article in the Salem Statesman Journal, Heringer’s mother revealed that both Abigail and her sister, Rachel, were born with congenital hearing loss. They each underwent surgery to receive cochlear implants at age 2.
2. Heringer Is a Financial Analyst
Heringer earned a degree in finance from Linfield College in 2017 and began working with RVK, Inc. as an investment analyst shortly after graduating. In 2019, she began working as a real estate valuations analysts with the Holt Group.
She now works for Opus Agency as a client financial analyst.
In a franchise that has boy band managers and aspiring dolphin trainers, Heringer has a pretty boring job. But James works for a commercial real estate services and investment firm, so they’re from relatively similar professional worlds.
3. Heringer Played Golf in College
Heringer was on the women’s golf team during her time at Linfield College and was a breakout star during her freshman year in 2013. When she finished third in the Northwest Conference Fall Classic, it wasn’t just the best placement for anyone on her team, but the highest finish from any Linfield golfer in a major conference tournament in over two years.
“I guess that’s what may make me naturally good at golf is my patience, but the technical stuff definitely only comes with lots of practice,” Heringer told The Linfield Review in a 2013 profile. “I’m relatively short compared to other players in the conference, so obviously hitting for distance isn’t my greatest strength. But when you see me competing you’ll never see me look upset or throwing my clubs and I think that’s one of the things that help me do really well is that I don’t let one bad shot ruin my game.”
It doesn’t appear as though Heringer continued to play golf in her final three years at Linfield.
4. Heringer’s Mom Is Surprised She Wanted to Share Her Story
While Heringer is set to break some barriers by appearing as the show’s first hearing impaired contestant, it’s not something she talks about often.
“I was surprised she was willing to share her story about her hearing loss,” her mother Suzie Heringer told the Salem Statesman Journal in October. “With her disability, if that can impact one other person, it’s worth sharing the story.”
According to the World Health Organization, around 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss — over five percent of the world’s population.
5. Heringer Made a Great First Impression on Matt James
Harrison dropped a major hint when he introduced Heringer to everyone in December.
“I think you’re all going to really love Abigail, who — I will just say this — makes a very strong first impression on Matt,” Harrison said with a telling smirk and raised eyebrows.
The clear implication was that Heringer would be the recipient of the First Impression Rose, a strong indicator that she’ll be a major player on this season of The Bachelor. That proved to be the case in episode one, although that rose doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. Only five women who have received that rose reached the final two and Hannah Ann Sluss is the only one who received the Final Rose, although her engagement with Peter Weber was exceedingly brief.
While Heringer received the First Impression Rose, history doesn’t show that means she has great chances at finding a happily ever after.
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