Get To Know Matt James, ‘The Bachelor’ Lead For Season 25 On ABC
ABC caused a stir on Friday morning by announcing that they had already picked someone to lead Season 25 of The Bachelor. Matt James will be handing out roses when the next season airs, and franchise fans are curious to know more about this surprise pick.
A few months ago, Matt had been announced as a contestant for Clare Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Clare’s season has not yet been able to be filmed.
Despite that, ABC seemingly decided to start planning ahead and chose Matt as the next lead even though he hasn’t yet been shown on television as a contestant. Picking Matt gives ABC their first black male lead, something that fans have been clamoring to see for quite some time now.
ABC decided not to wait for Matt to air on The Bachelorette before picking him for The Bachelor, but that doesn’t mean he’s not already a familiar face to many fans. He’s very close to last year’s runner-up Tyler Cameron, and the two have been virtually inseparable since last year’s The Bachelorette. In fact, details ET Online, Tyler’s mom is the person who nominated Matt to become a contestant.
Of course, Matt is more than just Tyler’s best buddy.
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Matt played football during his years attending Wake Forest University in North Carolina, and he earned a degree in economics. He pursued a career in the NFL, briefly connecting with both the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints.
Once he determined that a professional football career wasn’t going to happen for him, Matt moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked at PNC Bank for a while, and then he moved to New York City to work for CBRE, a commercial real estate company.
New York City has officially remained Matt’s home since he first arrived there. He is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, but he fell in love with NYC. After doing The Bachelorette last year, Tyler moved to NYC and became roommates with Matt.
The new star of The Bachelor has a passion for charity. He was involved with some charitable programs while attending Wake Forest, and he branched out to start his own project in NYC.
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Matt heads up ABC Food Tours, which gives underserved children a chance to embrace culinary experiences. Many of the kids who become involved in the program experience homelessness, and ABC Food Tours gives them a chance to eat at some of Matt’s favorite Manhattan restaurants.
“Our goal is to implement an experiential learning platform for students in NYC living in underserved communities that will educate, motivate, and inspire them to overcome life’s obstacles. We believe that by surrounding students with restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, & immigrant business owners who have all overcome similar hardships they can begin to envision these realities for themselves,” the charity’s site explains.
The 28-year-old entrepreneur is known to be quite close to his mother Patty, who is white. It turns out, notes E! Online, that Matt didn’t even tell his mom about this big announcement. He said that it’s hard for her to keep a secret, so she’s finding out at the same time as everybody else.
ABC’s decision to pick Matt, and reveal that decision quite early, is definitely generating a lot of buzz. The Bachelor fans will be eagerly watching for updates on the filming process and will surely be anxious to watch his journey air early next year.
