While both Canadian men came highly recommended by the Canuck showrunner, Graebner was not sure if Benoit, 31, would be right for Winter Games. (Spoiler alert: He was very wrong.)
"When I met him, I thought, this is a really sweet guy, but he's not your traditional Bachelor guy. He's not 6'2", with six-pack abs, so I wasn't sure. I couldn't tell if he was really going to be appealing to the women, and to be honest, we called him and we said we're not sure if this is going to work out and he was so emotional and so sad and so sweet that we immediately changed our minds and thought this guy has to be on the show."
And that is exactly who viewers will see on the show. "He is so unbelievable sweet and sincere and romantic and the emotion that he shows is really remarkable," Graebner said. "Especially for a man to open himself up and be vulnerable like that in front of millions of people is really exceptional."
Plus, he has a French accent ("a thing of beauty," per Graebner) and he cooks!