Colton Underwood said his time on The Bachelor was a form of “self-conversion therapy” to try “to be straight”. The 30-year-old appeared on the 23rd season of the show before coming out as gay in April 2021.
Since The Bachelor’s debut in 2002, it has continuously focused on a single male bachelor who is expected to find a wife from a pool of romantic interests. “Instagram was my way to look without being caught,” he recently told Andy Cohen during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
He explained that social media platforms such as Instagram and Grindr were a way of exploring his sexual identity before being comfortable enough to come out.
Colton added: “All of the cover-ups and praying, and trying self-conversion therapy on myself by becoming The Bachelor, so I’ve pretty much tried everything to be straight, and it didn’t work and I would rather, I just love being gay now!” He recently got engaged to his partner Jordan C.