ABCNick Viall as The Bachelor? It's just one happy accident. Nick has appeared on The Bachelorette twice, both times coming in as the runner-up, and Bachelor in Paradise, all in the hopes of finding love. But he never sought out to be The Bachelor…or even on The Bachelorette, according to his friend Marcos Hernandez.
"Of course he's happy he was picked as The Bachelor. It's an opportunity that came up, but it's not something he was actively seeking. Nick didn't even put himself on The Bachelorette the first time. My wife and I did," Marcos, a friend of Nick's for 32 years, told E! News. "We'd have pizza nights where we'd watch the show and Nick would come over and watch with us. My wife thought it would be funny to try to get him on the show. She grabbed a recent picture of him and sent it in. We forgot about it but nine months later they called him for an interview and he decided to try it out."
Nick's trajectory to become The Bachelor is unique for the show's 20-season history. Generally the show picks from the previous season, so Nick's time seemingly came and went. However, he took his time on both Bachelorette seasons and Paradise to transform his TV image.
"Ultimately, at the end of the day when we were discussing all of the candidates—and Luke [Pell] and Chase [McNary] were on the board—it just got down to the final question of, ‘Who's the most deserving? Who is the most sincere? Who have we watched time and time again really come on the show to find love and just come up short each and every time?' While Luke and Chase were good guys, we all just kept coming back to Nick. It's just crazy enough to work," Bachelor host Chris Harrison said on Good Morning America after Nick was revealed.
And the show has worked for him, the host said. "Look, the good news is it's worked for him. He has fallen in love on this show and he has sincerely tried to make it work. Unfortunately, he's just come up a little bit short each time. He's done his part; he will give himself to this process. Again, at the end of the day this wasn't an indictment on Luke or Chase as much as it was more of a compliment to Nick in that he is that sincere guy who really does want to make this work," he said.
Nick's friend Marcos told us her reality star pal is most excited about "an opportunity to find love."
"He's been on the show twice. He's truly looking to find a connection," Marcos said, echoing Chris Harrison's earlier statements.
When Nick was announced as the next Bachelor star on After Paradise, he admitted to being both excited and nervous. "Honestly, I think I'm definitely ready for it. I'm very excited," he said. "I've had an interesting journey throughout this process."
There are ups and downs in this process, that's for sure. And something Nick seems well aware of.
"Is he afraid of anything? I think it's obvious," Marcos told us, "he doesn't want to have his heart broken again."