Colton Underwood: Former Bachelor says dating show helped him realise he's straight

Former Bachelor star Colton Underwood has revealed that his time on the dating show helped him come to terms with and learn more about his sexuality.

According to Underwood, who recently published his memoir The First Time: Finding Myself and Looking for Love on Reality TV, he believed that he may be gay throughout his adolescence and early 20s.

“It was one of those things where you hear something so often, you start believing it,” he wrote. “I thought, maybe I am gay. The captain of the football team should be having sex and drinking, right? But I wasn’t.”

The former football player also says he had searched “Am I gay?” online as far back as grade school.

However, according to Underwood, he eventually realised he was attracted to women when he was The Bachelor for season 23.

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight host Lauren Zima to promote his new memoir, Underwood said: “[The show taught me] that I'm straight and I'm very, very attracted to Cassie [Randolph] and women - but it would have been okay if it would have been the other way too.

“I think that's the biggest message I have for people."

Underwood also said going on The Bachelor was a way for him to “not be able to run away from a relationship, not to be scared, and to open up”.

As for why the 28-year-old decided to open up about his exploration of his sexuality, he told Zima that he wanted to share his own journey to help others who may be going through something similar.

"If anybody takes anything from this or is going through this, if I help one young man or one young woman go through something that they're struggling with - to let them know that they're not alone - then I consider the book a huge success," Underwood said, adding that he still “battles gay rumours” - partly because he revealed he was a virgin during his time on The Bachelor.

According to Underwood, who discussed his virginity during the interview, he’d chosen not to address it during his time on the show because he didn’t “really know if there was an answer he should be saying”.

“Why can't I just say it's because I'm a Christian, because I believe you should wait till marriage?' Because that's not 100 per cent accurate. That's not the 100 per cent sole reason why I'm a virgin," he said.

Earlier this month, the former Bachelor revealed that he'd tested positive for coronavirus. "I’m 28, I consider myself pretty healthy, I work out regularly, I eat healthy, I became symptomatic a few days ago, got my test results back today and they are positive…it’s been kicking my ass just to put it very bluntly,” Underwood said in a video posted on social media on 20 March.

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