Former Bachelor Contestants Who Are Unrecognizable Now

It's a wrap. The 23rd season of The Bachelor came to an end in March 2019. And, SPOILER ALERT, the season concluded with Colton Underwood dumping his final two to win back Cassie Randolph, who happened to be one of four women who made the decision to leave the show early. As the first virgin Bachelor, there was certainly a lot of hype ahead of Season 23. And there's already hype around the upcoming star of the spinoff franchise: Hannah B., the next Bachelorette.

You might tune in to watch each and every season because you genuinely enjoy the series, or perhaps you flip on the TV because you love to hate-watch it — no judgment. Either way, The Bachelor is a big part of many people's lives. As one of the longest-running reality television shows ever, we've had the opportunity to meet hundreds upon hundreds of contestants. Some of the women who've competed for love really haven't changed all that much since starring in the series, while you might not even be able to recognize others. Here are some examples of the latter. 

If you've been a Bachelor fan since the beginning, you'll remember Alex Michel. The first Bachelor was a 31-year-old hunk who attended Harvard and Stanford. Back in 2002, we weren't used to seeing dozens of women compete against one another to win the affection of one man. Whether we admit it or not, we're now very familiar with the concept. 

Viewers would go on to watch Michel pick 23-year-old event planner Amanda Marsh — a relationship that fell apart soon after the finale aired — but two other women were serious contenders. Trista Rehn, a 29-year-old physical therapist, ended her time on the show as the Bachelor's runner-up. Shannon Oliver, a 24-year-old financial-management assistant, came in at third. Luckily for Rehn, she became the first Bachelorette in the spinoff series aptly titled The Bachelorette. Rehn actually found true love in contestant Ryan Sutter (the two are still together at the time of writing, using hashtags like #stillinlove). But, whatever happened to Oliver?

According to her blog, she left the finance world and started dabbling in acting, presenting, and event-hosting. Not only that, but she founded a non-profit, got married, and welcomed a son, according to her Facebook. Aww!

The second season of The Bachelor introduced us to banker Aaron Buerge. The season ended up with the Bachelor picking and proposing to Helene Eksterowicz, though their relationship would not go the distance. When 22-year-old runner up Brooke Smith was eliminated on the show, she opined (via Tuscaloosa News), "I feel like Aaron just made the biggest mistake of his life." Smith believed Buerge was "the one" for her and although she was devastated when he chose to let her go, Smith did end up getting married. The former contestant told ABC that she married a man named Scott in a "fairytale southern wedding."

After her time on The Bachelor, Smith also became a news anchor, an avid marathon runner, and a mother of two daughters. In April 2018, Smith also became a certified advanced yoga teacher. The Bachelor Season 2 contestant has certainly come a long way since having her heart broken on national television.

In 2005, actor Jerry O'Connell's younger brother, Chris O'Connell, was chosen as the seventh Bachelor. This was a particularly wild season because, as Entertainment Tonight recapped, O'Connell didn't pick one woman during the finale — he picked two. The star asked his final two contestants, Sarah Brice and Krisily Kennedy, if he could keep dating them both after the show concluded. Um, what?

O'Connell eventually made a choice (Brice) during The Bachelor: After the Final Rose special. The couple went on to date for several years, on and off, but eventually broke up for good. After becoming O'Connell's runner-up, Kennedy went on to star in another Bachelor spinoff, Bachelor Pad. Still, that was in 2010. 

In the years since, Kennedy has embraced a bold new look, complete with pink hair, and is working as the secretary of the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society. In 2018, the former contestant also revealed on Instagram that she was working on a book, Bitter & Beautiful — A Memoir: One Woman's Journey. Although her book has yet to come out, she might just dish about her time spent with O'Connell. We'll wait as long as it takes.

Contrary to popular belief, Colton Underwood was not the first virgin to star in The Bachelor franchise. According to Us Weekly, Sadie Murray, runner-up to Jennifer Wilson in Season 9 (Prince Lorenzo Borghese's season), was the first contestant to make such a reveal on the series. 

Murray may not have stolen the Bachelor's heart, but we have a feeling she's doing just fine. Murray is a lifestyle and beauty expert who has been featured on numerous shows, including Extra and E! News Now. She remains active on social media, sharing snippets of her work and life on Instagram. In 2018, she shared a 10-year-old throwback photo that she captioned as one of her "first TV headshots." Fans chimed in with comments, including, "I remember this cute girl." While she's changed up her look since starring on The Bachelor, one fan kindly assured her that she was "just as [heart eyes emojis] back then" as she is now.

Later that same year, the former contestant shared a headshot from 2007, addressing some of the differences with the caption: "Extensions-free, fresh-faced and able to eat whatever I wanted... those were the days..."

As all fans of The Bachelor know, making it to the hometown date is a big deal. What happens on that visit to meet the family can make or break your chances of winning. That's not to say the dates always go well, though. In fact, SFGate named The Bachelor Season 12 hometown date between Bachelor Matt Grant and contestant Amanda Rantuccio as one of the "most awkward hometown dates" in the history of the series. And it really was.

Rantuccio apparently thought it would be funny to hire actors to play her family and do some ridiculous things — including Rantuccio's "mom" flirting with Grant. Rantuccio eventually admitted it was a joke, which left Grant "speechless" at first. "I can't believe I fell for it," SFGate quotes the former Bachelor as saying. He continued, adding, "That was very, very funny even though it was at my expense." Nevertheless, Grant chose Shayne Lamas in the finale.

As Rantuccio's Instagram shows, the former contestant has found love again. And, while she's updated her look in the over a decade since starring on the show, we kind of hope she's still pulling awkward pranks.

Soon after Brad Womack, star of The Bachelor Season 15 eliminated contestant Ashley Spivey, she went on to meet her eventual husband at a bar in New York City. The couple tied the knot in 2016. Since Spivey's run on The Bachelor, she's continued to have an impact on the series. Although she's a nanny by day, she revealed to The Washington Post that she's also a moderator on The Bachelor subreddit. As such, Spivey has been vocal about the series' flaws — especially when it comes to vetting their contestants. "I think in today's climate, you should really be paying attention to not only people who have sex offenses in their background," she said referencing contestant Lincoln Adim, "but you should be trying to make the best possible match for the show."

In addition to working to keep Bachelor Nation safe, Spivey is a dog-mom to an adorable Boston Terrier named Jackson. Spivey may remain somewhat in the public eye, but you might not realize just how different she looks these days compared to 2011. The former contestant has given up tanning and most of her makeup in exchange for a healthy skincare routine.

If you watched Brad Womack's season, you probably remember another contestant in addition to Ashley Spivey. During her time on Season 15, Michelle Money was branded a villain. "For [eight] years, my body has been holding on to a word that has been attached to my name by millions of people," Money revealed on Instagram. "This word is fully loaded." She continued, "It's shameful and it has caused me more sorrow than I am willing to admit." 

The former contestant revealed that she visited an "energy healer" to address her feelings. Money admitted that she had felt betrayed by the cast-mates and producers on the show and even by her own self for being naive and easy to manipulate. She added, "I have been so hard on her. I have been ashamed of her and her behavior." Money accredits the healer with helping her forgive and love her former self and let go of the pain from being dubbed a villain. In addition to letting go of negative energy, Money said in another Instagram post that she's "been trying to keep things more natural these days," which has meant wearing minimal makeup and removing her hair extensions.

Tierra LiCausi also knows what it's like to be branded a villain. The Bachelor Season 17 star Sean Lowe ended up sending her home, but not before the 24-year-old woman made waves among the other contestants.

In a clip of The Bachelor: The Women Tell All special shared by Us Weekly, LiCausi defended herself saying she was actually friendly to the other women. "It's not like I walked around the house and I was this complete devil," she added. Fellow eliminated contestant Selma Alameri disagreed, saying, "Tierra, maybe you weren't unfriendly, but you weren't friendly." Another contestant, Robyn Howard, called LiCausi delusional. Yikes. But, people can change, right?

At the end of 2018, LiCausi got engaged to Anthony Luca. The former controversial reality television show contestant also made the decision to get baptized in 2019. "Making this decision for myself took a lot of work, a lot of vulnerability, patience, a lot of uncertainty," LiCausi shared on Instagram, "I struggled from time to time, went through a lot of pain but most importantly came out [alive]." And, apparently, "reborn."

Seeing Sean Lowe send Lindsey Yenter home broke all of our hearts. "I honestly can't imagine my life without you," she told the 17th Bachelor. After the season ended, though, Yenter got back out there to look for love.

"I am really content in how everything ended. I'm really happy for [Sean Lowe and Catherine Guidici] and I'm really happy about where I'm at right now," she revealed to E! News in March 2013. "I have such a great support system and I'm dating, so it is all really good things. At first coming home from Thailand was hard, I was heartbroken, but after a lot of prayer I realized that everything happened that was supposed to happen." She revealed that she was also in a new relationship. 

In 2015, Yenter married Karl Swanson. She has also since become a stay-at-home mom to two adorable little boys, Kaden and Liam. Although she's obviously changed over the years, she's still an avid watcher of The Bachelor and even hosts viewing parties. Now, that's a true fan.

Juan Pablo Galavis has been called the worst Bachelor to ever appear on the series. When the former professional soccer player handed Nikki Ferrell the final rose, he didn't profess his love. Instead, he told her, "I like you a lot. A lot." Still, Ferrell accepted the rose and became the winner of Season 18. 

Not very long after the finale came the news that didn't exactly surprise many fans of the show: the couple called it quits. "It all played out over a couple of days, right before my birthday," Ferrell revealed in an interview with Life & Style (via E! News). "We were just going back and forth through texting. He was questioning the relationship and I was questioning it back. I sent him a message saying, 'We should fight for this. We should work this out.' And he didn't respond."

The former contestant and winner of The Bachelor "went back to that nurse life post Bachelor life," according to her Instagram. Though, she did have lunch with host Chris Harrison in 2018, so she hasn't completely forgotten about her stint on the show.

Just as Colton Underwood and Season 9 contestant Sadie Murray revealed their virginity status on national television, so, too, did Ashley Iaconetti in Season 19. Iaconetti first told some of her fellow contestants on the show and then revealed the news to the Bachelor himself. "I said it to Chris Soules on that season and I have to be honest, I didn't think that he thought it was very attractive," she revealed in an interview with Access (via People). "I think he stopped looking at me as a sexual object at that point — I felt a change in our relationship." Still, she is of the opinion that it really shouldn't be "such a big deal" and wasn't a reason to end a relationship. 

In the end, Iaconetti did end up finding love on reality television, just not on The Bachelor. The former contestant met Jared Haibon on Bachelor in Paradise instead and the two are planning on getting married in August 2019. Most gorgeous couple ever? Pretty much.

During Corinne Olympios' time on The Bachelor Season 21, the contestant was labeled a villain. After revealing on the show that she had a nanny — at 24 years of age — her fellow contestants were shocked to say the least. While it's hard to know if the star has changed internally, fans have noticed some changes to her physical appearance in the years following her TV debut.

When the former Bachelor contestant shared a selfie on Instagram in December 2018, comments rolled in asking if she'd had plastic surgery and suggested that she had "botched" lips. "You were my [favorite] on Bachelor... I thought you were the prettiest," one fan wrote. "Please stop messing with your face." Ouch. When she shared another picture of herself in February 2019, the comments that came in were much the same.

The following month, Olympios addressed some of her fans' comments and shared a picture confirming that she had a non-surgical procedure to change the appearance of her chin and jawline. However, she did not address fans' speculations about other procedures.

"[I don't know] about you but in my 27 years my body has taken on many shapes and forms," Christen Whitney, former contestant on The Bachelor Season 21 wrote to her followers on Instagram in January 2019. "Hormones change, metabolism changes, lifestyle changes, but what I can control to remain the same, is my mindset." Since vying for Nick Viall's heart on the show, Whitney has stopped "being overly preoccupied with 'perfection'" and has upped her exercise regimen. And she doesn't care if you don't like it.

"The other day a dude on Instagram said I looked manly [because] I had too much leg muscle," she captioned an Instagram selfie. "So I squatted twenty times harder and ran two extra miles." She continued, writing, "Don't tell me what to be or who to be. I won't fit in your box." That's right, girl. You do you.

After becoming yet another contestant dubbed a villain, Krystal Nielson from The Bachelor Season 22 said she'd made some big changes when speaking to Entertainment Tonight. "I've burned a lot of sage, girl," she told interviewer Lauren Zima. "I've saged my soul. I've saged everything." When asked if she'd grown since competing for Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s heart, Nielson agreed that she had. "Feedback is the way that I grow and I've received a lot of it, you know, since the show," she joked.

All that energy-cleansing must've worked. Krystal Nielson and former Bachelorette contestant Chris Randone met on Bachelor in Paradise and fell in love. Despite only dating for a number of weeks, the couple got engaged during the season finale. In October 2018, the pair moved in together and, as of this writing, their relationship is still going strong.

Although it hasn't been all that long since the couple's season of Bachelor in Paradise ended, Nielson has already changed up her look in favor of a bare-faced or minimal makeup look. And we're all here for it!