The search for love begins! Matt James signed off Instagram after arriving in Farmington, Pennsylvania, to film The Bachelor.
“See y’all in a few months,” the real estate broker, 28, wrote in a since-deleted post on his Instagram Story on Tuesday, September 22. He tagged his location as Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, where season 25 will take place amid the coronavirus pandemic instead of the Bachelor mansion in Agoura Hills, California.
James then gave shout-outs to his friends Tyler Cameron and Hannah Brown, who dated on The Bachelorette season 15 in 2019 and were part of his quarantine crew in Jupiter, Florida, earlier this year.
“@tylerjcameron3 what a crazy 6 months, I love you brother, wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you an [sic] your mama,” the ABC Food Tours founder wrote, referencing the general contractor’s late mother, Andrea Cameron, who died from a brain aneurysm in March at age 55. “Oh & I’ll be back, with a plus one.”
In his message to Brown, James wrote, “Last but CERTAINLY not least.. Happy (early) Birthday Breezyy @hannahbrown.”
ABC announced in June that the Wake Forest University graduate would be the Bachelor franchise’s first Black male lead. He had previously been cast as a suitor on Clare Crawley’s upcoming season of The Bachelorette, but much of her cast changed after the pandemic delayed production.
“When filming [Clare’s season] couldn’t move forward as planned, we were given the benefit of time to get to know Matt and all agreed he would make a perfect Bachelor,” ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke said in a statement in June.
James revealed on Good Morning America at the time that he is looking for a woman who is “selfless, honest, caring [and] compassionate.” He also said that he hopes to see “a lot of diversity” and that his mother, Patty James, wants him and his future wife to have “a basketball team” of children.
The Bachelor season 25 is expected to premiere on ABC in January 2021.
