Never in a million years,
did I think I would do a cheesy reality TV show about love.
[Sean Lowe]
I was walking my dogs one day,
and my phone rings, it was a Los Angeles area code.
There was a girl on the other end, and she says: "Hi, my name is so and so,
and I am with the casting department for The Bachelorette."
She said, "We got your information and we wanna talk to you", and
I have no idea what she is talking about, I don't even know if it's a joke
or if this is real.
It didn't take me long to figure out that
my sister was behind it all.
I said, "Listen I just have no desire to be on reality TV and I certainly
don't wanna subject myself to all the public criticism
that comes along with being on a show like, The Bachelorette."
Guys go on there and
get drunk and there's the fantasy suite and there's sex and nudity, and
it just didn't seem like something that represented me.
She said, "you know, just think about it."
She said, "you could travel, see the world,
meet some cool friends," and
she said, "lastly, who knows, you might fall in love."
And so told her, I said "don't...don't hold
your breath, but I'll think about it."
I've known from a young age that
I'm a risk taker,
I've started different business ventures, some have succeeded, some have failed miserably,
I took one big risk when I started this financial services company with a couple
of partners, and due to some government regulation,
it all came crumbling down, and it's...it was
without a doubt, probably the darkest period of my life,
the hardest time I've ever had, because
not only did I lose my money, but I lost
investor's money, I had to...
I had to tell them, "I lost your money."
And they couldn't accept that, you know,
they threatened to sue me, and I was, I was afraid for my future,
and I had so many sleepless nights,
and I had so much anxiety and unrest.
It was right after that I thought I can't take any more chances, I...
I gotta do something
that gives me some security.
And that's when I finally
agreed to what I swore I would never do, and that was to get into the family business of insurance.
I just, I hated it from the very beginning.
I hated putting on my slacks in the morning,
I hated getting to work and
looking at all the cold calls I had to make that day and
I just knew it wasn't for me and I would
constantly pray, and I'd say "God, you know I don't like this and you know my heart's desires.
If you want me to be here, I'll be here,
but
I just, you know I'm not happy."
About that time, I got the phone call from the casting director of The Bachelorette,
and after thinking about it for a week or so, I thought,
you know what? I just want a free vacation, maybe she has a point.
[After completing a series of interviews, Sean was invited to join the cast for season eight of ABC's The Bachelorette.]
[As filming began, he soon found himself competing with 24 other men for the affection of one woman.]
We are at this big palatial mansion in North Carolina, so
when you are not on a date with the girl,
you are hanging out with the guys, and
there were a lot of cool, normal guys,
we spent most of the days hanging out by the pool,
throwing the football, barbecuing,
then, as the weeks go by, you start travelling,
first stop was Bermuda,
then London, then Croatia.
I thought alright, I can get used to this.
After about four or five weeks of getting to spend time with
the bachelorette, I thought
I kinda, I like being around her.
Wow, I'm actually developing feelings for this girl,
when there's all these cameras around.
This is kinda nuts.
I can see myself being
her husband, and she had a young daughter, and I thought
wow, God has used this reality
TV show to introduce me to my wife
and to my future daughter.
After about six weeks of being on the show,
I knew...I loved her.
[A week before the finale, Sean entered the rose ceremony with other contestants.]
[Before an audience of 7 million, his marriage hopes ended in elimination without a rose.]
I can't understand why
God opened the door for me to be on this reality show, to fall in love,
only for it to end like this.
I cannot understand why
He's led me to this heartbreak.
I go back to Dallas, and
still heartbroken and I am still thinking about her all the time,
I reached out to her, I found her
phone number through a mutual friend that we had,
and I call her and I'm just trying to get answers
as to why this happened. I just got her voicemail,
and never received a return phone call.
After about six weeks,
I got a phone call from one of the executive producers,
He says, "hey,
what do you think about being the next Bachelor?"
And I didn't know what to say.
I said, "you know, I'm getting over a broken heart and I'm still trying to
mend and the first go around wasn't the greatest
experience for me," I said, "I don't know."
On the show,
bachelors, traditionally, they get
raked over the coals. It's not easy to maintain
that good guy image when you're the star.
I called my family, and my family is such a
wonderful God centered family, and
I value their advice and their opinion and, I'm thinking
they're gonna tell me, you know, don't do it,
but in fact, both my mom and my dad said
you know, God has
opened this door for you, and I think you owe it to yourself to walk through it.
Fast forward a couple of months, and
and I'm flying out to L.A. to start the whole adventure over again.
And the first night comes and, you know, the limos pull up
it was just a surreal moment, standing there,
not knowing who was gonna step up out of each limo,
and meeting every girl, and the first night, I think lasted
until 6 in the morning, and it was just all night, I'm exhausted
and I'm going from girl to girl to girl,
having different conversations, trying to keep my story straight,
trying to remember names.
It's unnatural to date 25 women at one time, and
and it felt wrong, a lot of the time it felt wrong.
And I wrestled with it quite a bit, thinking
you know, I'm pretty sure
God opened this door, but,
what if He didn't? What if it's just an opportunity that came about?
and what if I'm actually harming my testimony
by going on a show and dating
people at one time and kissing multiple people?
What if people look at me and they say this is what's wrong with Christianity?
You know, look at this guy, he's...
he's professing one thing, but he goes on TV and he's...
he's doing the opposite.
That was a big fear.
[Once skeptical that he would find love again, Sean narrowed contestants each week -]
[culminating in an emotionally charged marriage proposal.]
At the end of it all, I was forced
to make probably the toughest decision of my life.
Breaking a girl's heart, thinking that she was
gonna marry me.
On the very same day, I got to propose
to this— the love of my life, Catherine.
I have always said that
I wanna marry my best friend. You know,
Catherine is just that. She was the one
that I just couldn't see myself saying goodbye to, ever.
Somewhere along the line,
probably because people did know
that I was a Christian, someone thought to ask the question
how's the sex? Or
are you guys waiting for marriage, I forget who asked it,
I forget how they asked it, but somebody asked it,
and I answered it honestly.
Catherine and I are not having sex until marriage.
From that moment forward,
there was just a firestorm,
I mean every tabloid
had me on the cover and they labeled me as
The Virgin Bachelor.
Whether it was Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel,
Entertainment Tonight, you name it, it was always
brought up. They were just gonna view me as a weirdo.
I didn't have sex in college, and honestly,
I don't even know if I knew at that time
why I took that stance.
After graduating college,
I moved back to Dallas, I'm dating other girls, and
I started having sex.
And I would feel extremely guilty afterwards,
but after that guilt faded,
then I would start talking to some other girl, and
go down the same path of destruction.
I just reached a point where
I thought, you know, I've
I've known Jesus is in my heart, and
and I know
how I'm supposed to live, but for the past
5 or 6 years, I've just
decided to ignore it.
And
something's gotta change.
And at probably the age of 24,
I think I finally
became a man.
And I said, "Alright,
Jesus, let's, let's do this again."
I don't know who I would be without Jesus in my heart.
Jesus shapes the way I think,
He shapes the way I see the world,
He shapes the way I interact with
everyone I come in contact with.
It doesn't matter what I go through, the ups
and the downs, the failed businesses, the broken heart,
whatever, I know that I've got a God
who loves me, who's right there next to me saying
It's gonna be OK, I've got plans
for you, I love you.
You know, I was,
I was labeled as an outsider,
but as annoying as it was,
it's also been a great thing for me.
Because
that's now a part of my testimony
I don't know if anyone's found
Jesus through me talking about not having sex, but
I think now it's certainly more evident than ever that
I love Jesus and I'm different, because I love Jesus.
[After 17 seasons, Sean became the first Bachelor to marry the woman to whom he proposed.]
[With his father officiating, Sean and Catherine were wed January 2014.]
I didn't give in to
you know, my sinful nature.
As long as you stay in constant communication with God,
He's gonna get you through anything,
My name is Sean Lowe,
and I am Second.