Colton Underwood’s ‘Bachelor’ Contestant Heather Martin Crashes Season 25 for a Shot With Matt James: What We Know

Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Colton Underwood's 'Bachelor' Contestant Heather Martin Crashes Season 25 for a Shot With Matt James: What We Know

A tale as old as time. Two years after competing for Colton Underwood’s heart on season 23 of The Bachelor, Heather Martin is returning to the ABC series to shoot her shot with Matt James. The network teased the 25-year-old San Diego resident’s arrival in the trailer for upcoming episodes after the Monday, January 4, premiere. "Heather, what are you doing here? You could honestly destroy this whole thing for Matt," Chris Harrison tells Heather in the clip. Regardless of the host’s warning, Heather goes inside Nemacolin Resort, where season 25 was filmed, and surprises Matt, who looks shocked by her arrival. "I feel like I'm in a dream right now,” the 29-year-old Bachelor says. In another promo for the show, the ladies are clearly upset about Heather. [jwplayer 11Y4wX7m-l3ahXupL] "You already had your f—king shot at a Bachelor, like, go home," one of the women can be heard saying in the clip. Heather, meanwhile, tells the cameras, “This is like an impossible situation, still, like, I do feel like Matt’s worth it.” Why did Colton Underwood have to stay 100 yards away from Cassie Randolph? Hear the alleged crazy texts he sent her that earned him a restraining order. In under 2 minutes! While it’s unclear how well Heather and Matt know each other, they share a mutual friend: Hannah Brown. The model met the 26-year-old pageant queen on Colton’s season, which aired in 2019. The former football player, meanwhile, became close with Hannah after she spent several weeks with him at Tyler Cameron’s house in Florida in March 2020. (Matt and Tyler, who was Hannah’s runner-up on season 15 of The Bachelorette, met in college.) During her stint on Colton’s season, Heather eliminated herself ahead of the hometown dates. “You’re something so special,” she told him at the time. “But right now, I just don’t think it’s fair to you.” Heather is hardly the first Bachelor or Bachelorette contestant to crash another season. Back in 2014, Chris Bukowski attempted to join Andi Dorfman’s season but was turned away. During Ben Higgins’ season 20 of The Bachelor, both Amber James and Becca Tilley arrived on night one and scored roses for several weeks. While viewers will have to wait and learn Heather’s fate, Nick Viall is the only returning contestant who made it past the final four. The “Viall Files” podcast host joined the competition for Kaitlyn Bristowe’s heart midseason in 2015. Kaitlyn, who admitted she and Nick chatted before the show started filming, allowed him to stay and he ended up finishing as her runner-up. The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll through for five things to know about Heather:

Credit: Courtesy of Heather Martin/Instagram

1. She’s BFFs With Hannah Brown

Heather and Hannah hit it off during Colton’s season. After the Alabama native spent time with her family – and Tyler and Matt — she reunited with Heather in California in July 2020. They often document their adventures via Instagram.

Credit: Courtesy of Heather Martin/Instagram; John Salangsang/Shutterstock

2. Colton Was Her First Kiss

Heather’s job description on Colton’s season was “never been kissed.” During the season, however, she received her first kiss from the First Time author. Heather later called the kiss “so surreal” and “great” on the “Almost Famous” podcast — and addressed speculation she was lying.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better [first kiss]. … It was super interesting that people didn’t believe me,” she said in March 2019. “I’m like, ‘I don’t really know how to defend myself in this, but I don’t know why I would lie about something like that.’ It’s not something that would help me in any way in my opinion. I don’t think it’s going to get me anywhere.”

Credit: Courtesy of Heather Martin/Instagram

3. She Had a Real Job Pre-Show

Despite her silly job title, Heather was employed when she joined the franchise. At the time, she worked as an Assistant Program Manager at Aethercomm, a design and manufacturing company.

Credit: Courtesy of Heather Martin/Instagram; Courtesy of Lawson Bates/Twitter

4. She Was Linked to Lawson Bates … But It Was Just a Music Video

Heather was linked to the Bringing Up Bates star earlier this year, but fans later learned that she was just appearing in his music video.

“Got to check something off the bucket list 🙌🏻✔️ Had the most fun shooting this music video with @lawbates for his new song ‘Song for a Girl’ and it’s out now!” she wrote alongside a clip from the shoot in September 2020.

Credit: Courtesy of Heather Martin/Instagram; Jason Merritt/Radarpics/Shutterstock

5. She Went to College With Cassie Randolph

While Heather spent her time with Hannah in the mansion, she knew Cassie, who ended up winning season 23, pre-show.

“I walk into the mansion and my friend Cassie is there. She walked in and we were like, ‘Heather?’ ‘Cassie?’ It was so crazy. I had no idea,” Heather recalled in February 2019, noting that they both attended the Christian college Biola University. “It’s comforting. … You’re in this high-pressure situation and there is so much going on, so having that little piece of comfort put me at ease.”

(Colton and Cassie split in April 2020 after more than a year together. She later accused him of harassment and was granted a temporary restraining order against him. The court order was dropped in November 2020.)

Credit: ABC; Shutterstock

6. She’s Met Matt Before

“I have met Heather before [but] I had no relationship with her,” Matt said on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast in February. “But she does have a relationship with one of my good friends Hannah Brown. I was just as shocked to see her as everyone else was when she arrives, and I think it makes for a very interesting conversation.”

Credit: MediaPunch/Shutterstock; ABC/Craig Sjodin

7. Bachelor Nation Has Her Back

While Matt’s contestants don’t seem pleased with Heather’s attempt to join the show, Dylan Barbour made headlines in January after he said the series “screwed her over.” Demi Burnett also defended Heather on “Here for the Right Reasons” last month.

“I would come back too if they asked me, like, duh! And I know that you would too because you signed up to be on this show in the first place,” Demi, who met Heather on Colton’s season, told Us. “And they’re gonna blame Heather? Like Heather had anything to do with it. Like Heather said, ‘I want to sabotage this show?’ Heather’s the sweetest girl ever. She would be so helpful. So, I’m like, ‘Why are you upset about this?’ This makes no sense to me. I don’t know. It was just immature to me. …  I saw her crying and I’ve never seen her cry before. And so, I’m really concerned about who I’m gonna have to beat up!”