The First Time: Finding Myself and Looking for Love on Reality TV

by Colton Underwood

Overview

With a new afterword about Colton’s battle with Covid-19 and breakup, this New York Times bestseller from former football player and star of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is “full of the kind of juicy details ‘The Bachelor’ franchise enthusiasts yearn for” (HuffPost).

Before Colton Underwood captured the hearts of millions on The Bachelor, he was a goofy, socially awkward, overweight adolescent who succeeded on the football field while struggling with personal insecurities off it. An All American gridiron hero, he was also a complex, sometimes confused, soft-hearted romantic wondering how these contradictions fit together. Old-fashioned and out of step with the swipe right dating culture of today, he was saving the most intimate part of life for the love of his life. If only he could find her...

Now, in The First Time, Colton opens up about how he came to find himself and true love at the same time via the Bachelor franchise. Unencumbered by cameras and commercial breaks, he delivers a surprisingly raw, endearing, and seriously juicy account of his journey through The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and The Bachelor. He opens up about being dumped by Becca, his secret dalliance with Tia, what it was like to be the world’s most famous virgin, his behind-the-scenes conflicts with production, and how his on-camera responsibilities as the Bachelor nearly destroyed him after he knew he had already fallen in love with Cassie.

A memoir for Bachelor Nation and anyone who believes in the magic of love, The First Time “is a thoughtful exploration into what it means to discover oneself” (USA TODAY).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982139391
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	01/26/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,062,840
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Colton Underwood was a linebacker and a tight end in the NFL from 2014 to 2016. A fan favorite on season fourteen of The Bachelorette, he starred in The Bachelor on season twenty-three of the show. Underwood is the founder of the Colton Underwood Legacy Foundation, a charity to support cystic fibrosis, with which his cousin Harper was diagnosed as a baby. Born in Indianapolis and raised in Illinois, he now lives in Denver, CO.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

The Short List 1

Part 1 What's Your Number? 3

How Do You Not Know by Now? 5

A Promise Broken 11

It's All Going to Be Okay 21

I Don't Give Up 27

What's Your Number? 35

Done 43

Falling in Love 49

I Don't Understand 57

Part 2 Nice Guys Finish Fourth 63

Out of the Basement 65

Congratulations 71

Happy Birthday 79

If You Don't End Up with Becca, I'll See Your Ass in Paradise 85

We're Here for Survivor, Right? 91

In Way Over My Head 101

Another Short List 107

Why Not Just Say It? 109

"I Would Never Judge You … or Think Any Less of You for That" 115

Nice Guys Finish Fourth 121

Part 3 The World's Most Famous Virgin 127

Paradise 129

The World's Most Famous Virgin 137

Holding Pattern 143

Good Morning America 149

Stylin' 155

Ellen 159

Part 4 How Do You Not Know? 163

My First Impressions 165

The Long Night's Journey into Love 171

A Third Short List 179

The Long Night's Journey into Love (Continued) 183

Episode Two-What No One Saw 185

Tension 193

Past Lives, Present Tense 199

What I Knew in Thailand 207

Part 5 The First Time 215

Drama in Denver 217

The Game Changer 225

Fantasy Versus Reality 233

Flipping the Cheese Board 237

Outta Here 243

Telling Cass 247

An Invitation 253

What Happened in the Fantasy Suite 257

A Very Happy Short List 259

Happy Couple 261

Afterword: The Next Chapter 273

Acknowledgments 283

Editorial Reviews

[F]ull of interesting tidbits and insights from his time in the reality dating franchise.... But it's also a thoughtful exploration into what it means to discover oneself.” —USA Today

“The book is full of the kind of juicy details 'The Bachelor' franchise enthusiasts yearn for.” —The Huffington Post

“[Underwood does] not hold back about his sexuality, his parents’ divorce, his post-Bachelor life with Cassie Randolph and his first love, Aly Raisman.” —US Weekly

From the Publisher