I Was Almost Cast On Matt James's Season Of 'The Bachelor' — Here's What The Intense Process Was Like
I (almost) accepted this rose.
YouTube On May 7, 2020 at 9:42 in the morning, I was jolted awake by my ringing phone. There was an unfamiliar number with a California area code on the screen, so I let the phone call go to voicemail, since I had no idea who it could be.
A little bit later in the day, I listened to the mysterious voicemail, and much to my surprise, it was the casting team from ABC’s The Bachelor.
I was shocked that I was getting a call from an ABC casting director, since I had completely forgotten that I even sent in my first application to The Bachelor franchise's website months before.
My friends and I used to get together every week for Bachelor night pre-COVID and gush over who accepted the rose. During a commercial break on Pilot Pete’s season, an advertisement came up prompting viewers to audition for the next season of The Bachelor.
As I arrived home later that night, I jokingly sent in my submission and never thought about it again ... until I received the call.
Getting the call from the casting director was quite a shock.
Still on my voicemail is a message from The Bachelor team that says, “Hi Jaycee...I’m calling from ABC's The Bachelor. I’m giving you a call because we received a submission for you and we are casting for our next season.”
The casting director then proceeded to give me her email and phone number to call back and then told me that she will be sending me an email with a lot of documents to fill out.
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There was a lot of paperwork involved.
That same day, I received a lengthy email with very important information about moving forward in the process.
First, I had to send 15-20 photos of myself, all of which had to be a mixture of selfies, full body photos, close-ups, and casual photos with friends.
Then, I recieved a long questionnaire that says “The Bachelor 25” on the top of it. The questionnaire was about nine pages long, and covered every question you could think of.
It asked questions like, “Do you drink alcoholic beverages?” (yes), “What’s your favorite drink?” (rosé), and, “Are you genuinely looking to get married and why?”
It even asks if you like to gossip with your friends and what your hobbies are.
I also had to film a casting video, and it was super-intense.
In addition to the questionnaire, I was sent instructions for the video I was supposed to make.
The video had to be 5 to 10 minutes long, and I had to answer specific questions in it. The video prompts include having to introduce yourself, giving your a dating history, describing your ultimate fantasy date, telling viewers about your family, where you'd travel to if you could go anywhere in the world.
You then have to explain what your hometown date would be like, and finally show off your special talents.
The intense part about this process is that I only had two days to fill out the paperwork and submit the video.
I took my tripod to a nearby park in New York and filmed my video for six hours. Although you could only see me in the video, there were other people at the park sitting near me and a lot of people walking by.
Looking back, park-goers were probably annoyed because every minute, I kept saying, “Hi, I’m Jaycee and I would be perfect for The Bachelor because ... that sounded weird, I have to start over.”
I explained that my ultimate fantasy date would be jumping out of a plane and going skydiving to face my fears of heights, and said that if I could travel anywhere, I would go to Greece.
After filming for six hours, I went home, edited the video, and sent it back to the casting director.
Pictured below is the exact outfit I wore for the video — obviously, I chose a shirt with a bunch of roses on it to up my chances of being cast in the show.
After weeks of waiting, I finally heard back from the casting director.
After sending in the video and not hearing back for a while, I finally got a message back from the casting director.
She said that she loved my video and would be sending it forward to the semi-final round of casting. She also was very interested in me being what I call a “retired child actor” and asked me a lot of questions about my Nickelodeon past. I answered her questions, and then I got ghosted.
I guess I didn’t make it past the semi-final round, and I never heard back from the casting team. However, I’m not too upset about it, since I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the show anyways.
I truly just enjoy watching The Bachelor and am content with rooting for the girls that did get on this season, and of course, watching the most dramatic season yet.
However, my application didn't go to waste, and I got an inside look at the experience of being in the reality television casting process.
There is another reality show that I definitely want to get on to, but instead of winning a man, you win money and compete in competitions.
So, fingers crossed I will be on your screens soon — I just don't be accepting a rose.
Jaycee Levin is a writer, influencer, and blogger living in New York who loves celebrities, fashion, and reality television. She covers news and entertainment for YourTango. Follow her on Instagram.