Swoon alert! Arie Luyendyk Jr. was finally revealed as the season 22 Bachelor during Good Morning America on Thursday, September 7.
“It sunk in just now for sure of the it’s been a little surreal,” the 35-year-old said on GMA. “I was a little skeptical just because we had been in talks for a few years about doing it so I just kind of went in with an open heart and just kind of hit me right now I’m here.”
Even his loved ones didn’t even know he was the next Bachelor before the big reveal. “I was at home and it was pretty recent and we kept in touch over the last few years but this just fit perfectly. The timing really fit,” he said of when he got the offer. “I kind of kept things under wraps because I didn’t know how this would turn out. It’s been such a quick turn of events and my family doesn’t know so now they know so they know along with you guys.”
Luyendyk Jr., who was the runner-up on Emily Maynard’s season 8 of The Bachelorette in 2012, nearly landed the Bachelor title last year. He was also up against Luke Pell, who appeared on JoJo Fletcher’s Bachelorette season. Pell claimed that he had his bags packed but ABC producers changed their minds last-minute.
“Same exact deal. I just knew two days prior, but same deal: suit fittings; contracts that I signed, but they were delayed on signings on their end; booked flights. Maybe this is a common practice now to throw off fans — I don’t know,” Luyendyk Jr. exclusively told Us in September 2016.
We last saw the new Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. on Season 8 of the @BacheloretteABC.@BachelorABC #TheBachelor pic.twitter.com/DV2Ce3RwR4
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 7, 2017
Although Maynard chose Jef Holm in the end (the pair ended their engagement shortly after the finale), she had strong feelings for the racing driver.
“She was truly in love with two good people. It wasn’t clear-cut,” a source exclusively told Us in 2012.
Maynard has since moved on from Holm. Late last month, her husband, Tyler Johnson, announced that they are expecting their third child together. The couple are parents of sons Jennings Tyler, 2, and Gibson Kyle, 11 months, and Maynard is mom of daughter Ricki, 12, from a previous relationship.
