It doesn’t faze him! Colton Underwood doesn’t mind that his Bachelor season’s front-runner, Cassie Randolph, also stars on another reality TV show, Young Once, with her ex-boyfriend Caelan Tiongson.
“I haven’t watched that show, so I can’t really speak on it. I didn’t know Cassie while she was filming that show,” the former NFL player, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly at the Bachelor: Women Tell All taping in Los Angeles on Friday, February 22. “I mean, good for them if that was her relationship and she made the choice to go pursue another relationship and to come onto The Bachelor. I can only speak for my experiences and going on and stepping foot onto this franchise is one of the best things that I’ve ever done.”
Cassie’s docuseries follows her journey growing up in a very religious community and how that has shaped her friendships and relationships. The first season aired in 2015 and she began filming the second season before knowing she had been selected to compete for Underwood’s heart.
The speech pathologist, 23, clarified the state of her relationship with Caelan after fans took aim at her via social media and assumed they were still together while shooting the second season.
“While I don’t feel it is necessary that I share all the details, a lot of people are curious and the worst thing is false rumors. A while after our breakup, we put our past behind us and became friends ago,” Cassie wrote in a lengthy Instagram post earlier this month about the basketball player, whom she dated on and off during their time at Biola University. “We share a lot of mutual friends and he is close to my family. We both dated other people and had moved on.”
Cassie explained that she and Caelan were “unexpectedly” contacted by Young Once during the summer of 2018 to tape a second season. “This again put Caelan and I directly back in each other’s lives as our social circle overlaps. One of the storylines highlighted is our drawn out/complex relationship and the challenges of us staying friends post-breakup and whether it is possible or not,” she continued. “We filmed for several weeks prior to Caelan heading to Asia to play pro basketball and before I found out that I was cast for Bachelor. The timing of everything was completely chance. I care very much about Caelan and I want nothing but the best for him and his life.”
The California native is currently among the final three women, including Tayshia Adams and Hannah Godwin, in the season 23 competition.
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET and the Women Tell All special airs on Tuesday, March 5.
