The Bachelor Season 25: Matt James is our next Bachelor!

The Bachelor Season 25 lead is *drum roll* MATT JAMES!

The Bachelor Season 25 has its new lead, and I think the world is collectively celebrating with joy and excitement. Matt James, originally set to be a contestant on Clare Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette and most famously known as Tyler Cameron’s BFF, will be our next Bachelor.

This announcement is historical for the franchise as Matt James will be the first Black lead for The Bachelor in its 18-year history. He follows former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, who was the first Black lead for The Bachelorette.

Bachelor Nation alums had been actively speaking out over the last few weeks following the George Floyd protests, demanding that ABC seriously consider placing a person of color as a lead. Lindsay herself has been very vocal about this asking the network to “acknowledge their systemic racism” while a petition began circulating on Change.org to cast a Black lead for The Bachelor, gathering over 80,000 signatures.

It looks like ABC heard all of Bachelor Nation’s demands and requests, and they’ve delivered in the best way possible. As I mentioned above, James was going to be on Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette, but after production was halted, the contestants were released from their obligations, and the rest is literal history!

Good Morning America was the first to officially announce Matt James as the lead.

Early Friday morning, Good Morning America gave us the big Bachelor reveal with Matt James tuning in for the big announcement. I’ll admit, it was funny to see him all professional after seeing him for the last few months goofing off with Tyler C. in quarantine.

But this is a big moment, and a moment like this calls for some style and swag, which James had plenty of. Check out his interview below!

Who is Matt James?

Apart from Tyler C.’s BFF and TikTok partner for life, James is a 28-year old real estate broker amongst being an entrepreneur and an avid part of community organization. He played football at his alma mater, Wake Forest University, and later went on to play professionally before eventually settling down in New York City.

And when he’s not doing all those things, he’s hanging out in Florida with Tyler C. entertaining all of us with the best TikToks the world has to offer. And now, we can’t wait to see what he brings to the plate as the next Bachelor.

Given the uncertainty of when production will begin in general for the franchise, there is no set premiere date for The Bachelor Season 25 as of yet. But rest assured, we will be keeping up with any updates and sending them your way.

Three cheers for this historical casting in Bachelor franchise history! Hip, hip, hooray!

Are you excited to see Matt James as the next Bachelor? Share your comments below!