New Athlete 'Bachelor' Says He's No Player
April 7 -- Jesse Palmer, a 25-year-old backup quarterback for the New York Giants, is about to try his hand at the game of love.
Palmer, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 225 pounds, is the first professional athlete to star in The Bachelor, the romantic reality series in which a single man is put up in a lavish bachelor pad as he searches for Ms. Right among 25 women vying for his affections on romantic dates and social gatherings.
The handsome athlete says he is looking for a woman who is attracted to him for the right reasons.
"In my past relationships, I felt like women were more interested in what I did rather than who I was," Palmer said. "They didn't really want to know me. And I'm really ready to settle down."
The show first approached Palmer's agent, who put them into contact with his parents. His folks liked the idea and encouraged him to give it a shot, Palmer said.
The series' fifth season starts Wednesday at 8 p.m. on ABC. This time around, there will be a new twist to the rivalry among the women competing for the bachelor's affections: a spy in the house of love.
Unbeknownst to the other women in the house, one of the 25 will be a friend of Palmer's (the wife of his best friend) posing as a romantic hopeful. Her real task will be to give Palmer the lowdown on the behind-the-scenes competition for his heart.
The competition behind the scenes can get ugly. One of the bachelor's prospects gave a frank assessment of herself after meeting Palmer for the first time.
"I'm just your all-American girl, your girl next door," said Suzie from Michigan. "Yes, I'm a nice girl, but I'm not going to stand by and let someone knock me down. There was this girl at a bar, and her boyfriend said hello to me, and she got all upset and kicked me! So I went up to her and we went at it and I kicked her a--!"
Palmer says that he doesn't expect to take too much ribbing from his teammates, but he could be in for a surprise.
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