Former NFL pro Jesse Palmer says hosting the “Bachelor” series is like playing quarterback.
“You just want to avoid this drama all the time,” the former giant told The Washington Post. “It’s like trying not to get fired.”
Instead of watching his former team’s season opener on Sunday, Palmer, 43, will head to Los Angeles to film the two-part “Bachelorette” episode that airs Sept. 13-20 on ABC. Season 19 finale.
Chris Harrison, who has been at the helm since the premiere of “The Bachelor” in 2002, has been hired as the franchise’s host in 2021 for a “Bachelor” film at a prewar-themed college party The Bachelor’ contestant resigns amid controversy after defending.
In 2004, when Palmer became the first professional athlete to star in “The Bachelor,” which was still a new TV concept, he gave his teammates game-by-game.
“As you can imagine, we had a lot of fun with it,” said Palmer, who also serves as ESPN’s college football analyst.
The popular team keeps turning footballers back into stars and players, and he understands why.
“I think football players have a lot of personality. I think they feel comfortable in their skin,” he said.
Like the bachelor mansion, the NFL locker room can be an emotional powder keg.
“You can’t even imagine how much drama there is,” he said.
While he didn’t find lasting love on national television, he did find love in Manhattan more than a decade later — in 2020 with Brazilian model Emely Fardo. He first saw her at Rumble’s boxing class on West 23rd Street in Chelsea.
“I was about to talk to her the day I met her, but I missed my chance, and then she liked a photo of me on social media…then I technically took the first step and gave her directly message,” he said. “But she didn’t reply to me for 10 days; she played me slowly.”
The couple, who had just moved to Miami Beach with their Aussie Doodle Mademoseille Loulou Palmer, “would love to have kids” and have been talking about “maybe another dog.”
When asked if he wanted his kids to join a dating franchise or play football, Palmer said: “I have to ask the boss. I’m super open to everything. I’ll be disappointed in both, but I don’t know what the boss will say what.”
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