In memoriam. Kaitlyn Bristowe honored late Bachelorette contestant Clint Arlis after news broke of his death.
“This is an Instagram Story I did not think I’d be doing tonight but Clint, who was on my season on The Bachelorette — I’m gonna say tragically — he’s tragically passed. [He was] 34 years old,” the Bachelor alum, 36, told her followers on Thursday, January 13. “I’m not sure what happened [or] how it happened, but all I want to say is knowing him from the show, even though things didn’t end on the best terms for us, from his time on the show until today, I have heard nothing but incredible things about that person from his peers, his students, his coaches, his teachers, his friends, his family. Clint was very well-respected in his world.”
The former Bachelorette called the architectural engineer’s passing an “absolute tragedy,” saying, “I just don’t know much right now and it’s none of my business. This Instagram Story is literally just to say to anyone that knows him who might follow me that I am so sorry. It’s such a huge loss and I am honestly just beside myself at this news. So if there’s anything I can do, I don’t know what I can do, but anything at all, please let me know.”
The Canada native, who led season 11 of the ABC show, asked her followers to “say a prayer or be there for Clint’s family.” The “Off the Vine” podcast host concluded, “Gosh, I’m just so sorry.”
One of Arlis’ family friends Coach Bayer confirmed his death with a tweet on Thursday, writing, “It is with a heavy heart and a sense of profound loss that we announce the death of one of the Batavia Wrestling Program’s All-Time greats, 2005 graduate, Clint Arlis. Clint was the beloved son of Coach Tom Arlis and his wife, Jamie, protective, loving older brother of his sister, Taylor, and the boyhood idol and best friend of his kid brother, Coach Logan Arlis.”
After listing the Illinois native’s accomplishments over the years, Bayer called Arlis “extraordinarily devoted to his family and deeply committed to the sport [of] wrestling at a level few … ever reach.”
The athlete competed on Bristowe’s season in 2015 and was eliminated in the third week. Arlis, who was labeled as a villain at the time alongside JJ Lane, apologized for his “tongue [in] cheek behavior” during the Men Tell All.
While Bristowe accepted a proposal from Shawn Booth at the end of the season, the former couple split in 2018. The former spin class instructor moved on with Jason Tartick, and the banker, 33, proposed in May 2021.
