Kirk DeWindt Is Dating Someone & She's Not From Bachelor Nation

He didn't find love on The Bachelorette with Ali Fedotowsky or on Bachelor Pad or on Bachelor in Paradise, but Kirk DeWindt did find love outside the show. Two years after breaking up with Carly Waddell on Bachelor in Paradise Season 2, Kirk started dating his current girlfriend Jess Peterson. He tells Bustle that they met on Bumble in the spring of 2017 and have been together ever since.

Jess isn't from Bachelor Nation, which was probably appealing to Kirk, who told Bustle in a 2016 interview that the TV world really wasn't his thing anymore. "I like life out of the limelight," he said. "I was never really all that excited to go on TV, to tell you the truth. So normalcy is a good thing."

Kirk and Jess' Instagram posts are a window into the relative normalcy of their three-year relationship. They've spent time with his family, gone fishing, celebrated holidays, and run races together. Jess' Instagram bio proclaims her a "Runner / Outdoors(wo)man / Fun-haver," and she shares her love of the outdoors, exercising, and hunting with Kirk.

On Ali's Bachelorette season, Kirk's job was listed as a sales consultant, but he changed careers soon after leaving the show to embrace his love of working out. Now he has an endurance coaching and personal training business in Minnesota, which is currently offering online classes for anyone who wants to get in shape while staying at home. He previously told Bustle that it was important for him to show the world that he wasn't only a reality star. "People think that we live these lives where we don't work and we just slack off because we did a reality show, but that's not true at all," he said. "The show gets put on a pedestal and people overanalyze everything, but really, we're just normal people who just happened to be filmed for a short amount of time."

Even though he now prefers to stay out of the spotlight, he wrote on Instagram that he doesn't regret having dipped into Bachelor Nation for a while. "I can say whole heartedly that I'm super grateful for the life/love lessons & experiences that I never would have had otherwise," he said. Jess is grateful to Ali and the show too, but for a different reason. When Kirk posted about Ali's season airing as part of the The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons — Ever, Jess commented "glad ya got dumped" with smiley face and heart emojis.