Arie Luyendyk Jr. is ready and willing to give advice to new Bachelors — but they rarely call.
“I am surprised when Bachelors get selected and then they don’t reach out to previous Bachelors,” the 41-year-old season 22 star said on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast. “I was reached out [to] by previous Bachelors and I didn’t take the call from, like, Nick [Viall]. I talked to Sean [Lowe] because Sean’s my boy, but other Bachelors reached out and I didn’t take the time to actually pick up the phone. I should have. As a Bachelor — like Zach [Shallcross], he probably should take all the info that he can outside production, right? Because production has a great team to try to help the Bachelor along, but really the best interest is the show. It’s not really them.”
Arie added the “big thing” for Bachelors to remember is “this is your life and these are really big decisions.”
“The Bachelor’s this huge pressure cooker,” he continued. “I really do feel for all the leads.”
Fans will recall Arie met now-wife Lauren Luyendyk (née Burnham) on the 2018 season of The Bachelor. The former race car driver initially picked and proposed to Becca Kufrin, but called off the engagement while the show was airing and reconnected with his runner-up. Arie and Lauren, 31, wed in January 2019.
As a result of his dramatic ending, Arie told Us that he would likely have more useful advice than his friend — and the show’s “go-to guy” to bring back — Sean.
“My advice that I would probably give any Bachelor might even be better than Sean’s advice because I did, like, I made mistakes along the way. And I can kind of help somebody not make those mistakes along the way,” he explained.
Arie recently made headlines for saying in a YouTube video with Lauren that it’s “interesting” the series never reaches out to the couple to return since they are a “success” story.
“I do feel like the Bachelor franchise is a little bit behind us. It feels almost like a dream,” he told Us. “I think it’s kind of funny. I think the show has changed a lot. I think this season, they’re trying to bring the romance back, so I hope that is the case. But for me, it does feel like a lifetime ago and, you know, every journey is different. Everybody’s journey on The Bachelor could be different, so it is really hard to lend advice.”
The twosome went on to welcome daughter Alessi, 3, and twins Lux and Senna, 18 months.
“It’s really good. The twins are so cute. They’re starting to talk more, they’re saying little things. They’re running around. Honestly, this is my favorite age — the almost 2 to 3 is my favorite because they’re learning all these new words and they’re just so curious,” he gushed to Us. “Lux is, like, climbing everything and running around. It’s super cute. Things are really good at the house. … Alessi is in school now, so that’s a whole new thing, learning to go to school activities and hang out with other parents.”
With three kids, they still make time for date night — and are now helping others do the same via a new app called Duo, which launches March 1.
“It is an app for couples for date inspiration and planning,” he told Us. “What’s really cool is it kind of gives that Bachelor experience for everyday couples because once you sign up on the app, a date planner plans a surprise date for you. Your partner wants to go on a date on Saturday, you submit it to the app, you fill out a questionnaire and then basically one of our date planners — who actually is a date planner for The Bachelor — curates a date for you set at your budget.”
