While we await the chaos of Clare Crawley's turn as The Bachelorette, ABC is treating fans with flashbacks to some of the franchise's most memorable seasons. Nick Viall's iconic season of the popular dating series is up next. It's been three long years since handing out his final rose, but the Bachelor alum still remembers his trepidation about embarking on his own journey like it was yesterday.
The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons — Ever takes Bachelor Nation back in time, recruiting Bachelors, Bachelorettes, and spurned contestants alike to revisit the most dramatic moments from their season. Nick will be the next star to take the hot seat, and if you ask me, we might need a few episodes for him — that season had a lot of drama to pull from.
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Maybe Nick had a feeling that his run as the lead would be stressful, especially after failing to find love twice in a row during appearances on Andi Dorfman and Kaitlyn Bristowe's respective seasons. In clip with Bachelor deity Chris Harrison, premiering exclusively on Refinery29, Nick revealed that the prospect of becoming the Bachelor legitimately freaked him out.
"Honestly, when you guys asked me [to be the Bachelor], I had a real sick feeling in my stomach," he admitted. "But for all the bad luck that I'd had up until that point, I was like, 'You know what? Maybe it will pay off at the end'."
And it did pay off. Season 21 of The Bachelor saw Nick wielding the power of the rose as the Bachelor, and his turn in the spotlight introduced us to some of Bachelor Nation favorite people; Raven Gates, Kristina Schulman, and our first Black Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay are all products of that season. One of the most memorable faces on Nick's season was without a doubt Corinne Olympios, the Miami party girl who really knew (for better or worse) how to make a strong impression. Looking back, the Bachelor recalls his time with Corinne being very...interesting, to say the least.
"She's got a big personality," Nick said of his ex laughingly. "I certainly have no regrets about having her be in my top four, that's for sure."
Even though he didn't exactly get his happily ever after — he got engaged to winner Vanessa Grimaldi at the end of the season, but the couple broke up months later— Nick doesn't regret his time as the Bachelor. Being on the show opened up a number of professional avenues for him, including an appearance on Dancing with the Stars, roles in soap operas and Lifetime films, and his popular podcast The Viall Files. So yeah, it turns out that he was right to follow his heart and give love another shot, even if his gut told him otherwise.
You can watch Nick live the most dramatic moments of his season on tonight's new episode of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons — Ever, only on ABC.