A new season of The Bachelor is an opportunity to look forward at the future of the contestants, but it’s also a great time to look back on Bachelors past. After all, Ben Higgins is the 20th man to serve as Bachelor on the show. There are plenty of Bachelors that we’ve just plumb forgot about! On Bachelor Live, host Chris Harrison brought up one of my personal favorites — Season 7 Bachelor Jesse Palmer. But, who is Jesse Palmer, for those of you who need a refresher?
He’s a hunk — that’s who he is. OK, he’s more than that. Jesse began his career in front of the camera as an NFL football player. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Giants drafted Jesse from the University of Florida as a quarterback in 2001. He spent four years in New York City before heading to San Francisco to play for the 49ers. After his time on the field was over, Jesse moved on up to the commentators’ booth, where he did some announcing for NFL football and ESPN. In May of 2015, Jesse was named a “Special Contributor” on Good Morning, America , and he now has to wake up much earlier than he ever did playing professional football or on The Bachelor.
Speaking of his time on The Bachelor (and sidestepping his flub), Jesse chose Los Angeles law student Jessica Bowlin as his lady at the end of Season 7, but he didn’t give her a ring. Instead, he offered her a one-way plane ticket to New York so they could see how things would go. Sounds reasonable to me. Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss wasn’t happy about this, saying, “It was a cop-out. As a Bachelor, Jesse was about as good as he was an NFL quarterback — not that great.” No hard feelings though, right, Mike? I think Jesse is in a much better place now than he was when he was on The Bachelor.
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