Former Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise contestant, Chris Bukowski, is certain that producers made the right choice by selecting Arie Luyendyk Jr. as the suitor on season 22 of The Bachelor. “The best thing I like about Arie is you’ll get an honest…you’ll see a very transparent person,” Chris told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY when he stopped by our podcast. “He’s a real bachelor. Successful in real life, which I think is cool.” Like Arie, Chris first appeared in the Bachelor franchise on Emily Maynard’s season of The Bachelorette, which was back in 2012. And like many viewers, he was not expecting the casting of Arie nearly six years later. LISTEN TO OUR FULL INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS HERE.
“I had NO idea,” Chris admitted. “Honestly, I was trying not to watch too much. And then I woke up and my phone’s like, wow…Arie’s the Bachelor. I’m like, what!? How is that even possible? I didn’t even know that was a possibility. I knew he was [a contender] a couple of years ago when they chose Chris Soules, and I thought he should have been the Bachelor then. I was shocked that it was Arie [now].” However, he said that Arie has an important quality that the show has been missing in recent years. “[The show] is a lot less authentic than it was before and that’s why Arie’s back,” he explained. “Because Emily’s season was when it was still actually about finding love. Social media, Instagram wasn’t really there yet, it was just happening.”
As Arie’s journey continues to play out on The Bachelor, Chris also offered up a bit of advice. “I would say to Arie to just continue to be himself,” he revealed. “He’s a good person, good character, and, like I said at the beginning, his best quality is that he’s very transparent and honest. He won’t lead people in different directions and he’ll really lead with his heart and go with what he thinks instead of being persuaded to go a different way.”
HollywoodLifers, do you agree with Chris’ interpretation about why Arie was the right Bachelor?