'The Bachelor's Matt James Is Ready to Be in Love for the First Time

Most seasons of The Bachelor feature past contestants from The Bachelorette, but Season 25 is a little different. Although Matt James was originally meant to be on Clare Crawley’s season, he lucked out when producers decided they wanted him to skip a major step and go right to leading his own season of a show in the franchise.

Matt could have been one of Clare’s guys, but during the shutdown in production amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Matt, along with the rest of Clare’s contestants, were left in limbo for a little while. When the time came for filming to resume, Matt was already chosen as the next Bachelor. But since fans know next to nothing about him, many are curious about who the new leading man is.

Normally, viewers get to meet a Bachelor lead’s parents near the end of whatever season of The Bachelorette they were originally on. In Matt’s case, though, he’s a fresh face in every sense of the phrase and viewers who haven't dug deep into the recesses of his social media past know very little about him.

In 2019, Matt opened up to Wake Forest Magazine of Wake Forest University about his family, including his mom and older brother. He grew up with a single mom and doesn't appear to have a close relationship to his father now. But, it seems, Matt doesn't necessarily need it, as his relationship with his mom has flourished over the years.

And in June 2020, Matt shared a Father’s Day post on Instagram in honor of his mother, further driving home the fact that he isn't close to his father and that he and his mom are incredibly close. There’s a good chance that Matt’s mom and her opinion will remain important to him throughout his Bachelor journey.

Not only is Matt the first Black Bachelor lead as a biracial man, but he is also one who admitted he had never been in love before The Bachelor. If he had admitted that as a contestant on Clare’s season of The Bachelorette, that might not have gone over well with a leading lady who was ready to settle down with a serious partner.

But, for the women ready to woo Matt on his season of The Bachelor, that kind of honestly will likely be welcome. Chris Harrison told Extra that Matt does indeed seem serious in his search.

"When I heard it for the first time, it was pretty jarring for me," Chris said. "There are those statements you hear when you’re like, 'Oh, okay. I need to see how serious he takes it.' I will say this, he is an unbelievably sweet, sincere, kind, giving man. He has a huge, huge heart."

Warning: Possible spoilers ahead for The Bachelor Season 25. According to Reality Steve, Matt’s winner is Rachael Kirkconnell, who claimed in her Bachelor bio that she, too, has never been in love before.

Because spoilers ahead of The Bachelor are sometimes wrong, this hasn't been confirmed, but if Matt ends up with any one of his dozens of contestants and falls in love, then more power to him.

Watch The Bachelor on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.