ABC Matt James's 'Bachelor' promo.
Matt James is the new Bachelor, set to look for love on national television beginning tonight. James is 29 years old and he is 6-foot-5-inches tall. He is the franchise’s first Black Bachelor.
James works as a real estate broker and he is also an entrepreneur. He co-founded a nonprofit with former Bachelorette contestant Tyler Cameron called ABC Food Tours “to empower students by providing experiences across diverse cultures and career opportunities through food/fitness, education, and skills-based training. ABC Food Tours inspires students across New York City to create meaningful, equitable connections that will break the oppressive cycle of poverty.”
James was originally going to look for love on Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams’ season of The Bachelorette, but, after a fan-initiated petition, producers offered him the role of The Bachelor — which he excitedly accepted.
“It’s an honor. I’m just going to lean into myself and how my mom raised me and hopefully when people invite me into their homes on Monday night they’re going to see that I’m not much different from them and they see that diverse love stories are beautiful,” he told Good Morning America.
Here’s what you need to know:
Matt James Celebrated His 29th Birthday on December 5
Warning: There are some spoilers for Matt James’ upcoming season below.
James recently celebrated his 29th birthday. He was born on December 5, 1991, making him a Sagittarius. According to Cosmopolitan, a Sagittarius person is honest, adventurous, optimistic, independent and philosophical. Sagittarius are best matched with others of the same sign, as well as Leo and Aries.
Although he isn’t prolific on social media, James did share an update on his special day. Sitting in a pair of shorts, James held a pug and flashed a big smile to the camera.
“Only party animal I get to celebrate with this year,” he captioned the shot, along with the dog and cake emoji. James had a quiet birthday due to COVID-19 precautions. It’s possible that James was able to spend his birthday with the woman he ended up with on The Bachelor, but spoilers for the current season have been hard to come by.
While there are a lot of rumors swirling about James’ season of the show, Reality Steve has not published his usual blog on James’ season yet. Reality Steve did reveal that the woman to receive James’ first impression rose was Oregon native Abigail Heringer.
James Played College Football but Wasn’t Selected in the NFL Draft
James attended Wake Forest University, where he played college football. According to the website Sports-Reference, James is 6-foot-5 and weighed 220 pounds.
He was a wide receiver at Wake Forest from 2011 through 2014. His stats indicate that he didn’t play a lot the first three years of his college career but had a pretty good season when he was a senior.
He finished with 48 receptions, for 458 yards, but he didn’t have any touchdowns. It was during his senior year, however, that James earned a career-high 40 receptions for 401 yards.
After graduation, James entered the 2015 NFL draft but was not selected by any team. He was, however, invited to minicamp with both the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints, but he failed to make either team’s roster, according to Sports Illustrated.
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