Former Bachelor star Matt James definitely sees a future with girlfriend Rachael Kirkconnell. Even though they briefly separated following their engagement at the end of Season 25, they were soon reunited and are still talking about an eventual marriage.
In a recent interview with E! News to discuss his new book, First Impressions: Off Screen Conversations With a Bachelor on Race, Family, and Forgiveness, Matt made it clear that his relationship with Rachael has always been headed towards marriage.
“I think marriage is always the endgame at my stage of the game,” he said. “I’m not in the business of wasting anybody’s time, and I think the good thing about our relationship is we go at our own pace. And you’ve seen with other couples—they force the engagement and they’re not together anymore. So, I think what we got is a working recipe and we’re gonna get there.”
Matt and Rachael first met on The Bachelor in 2020, when Matt made history as the series’ first Black lead. But at first he was unaware of the importance of his casting.
Originally Matt had been intended as a contestant on Clare Crawley‘s season of The Bachelorette, but much to his pleasant surprise, he was unexpectedly offered the titular role of The Bachelor.
“Listen, I was fully consumed in quarantine. That wasn’t really my focus,” he said. “I thought I was going on The Bachelorette. And when I first got that call, I thought that Tyler [Cameron] and someone in the house was messing with me.” (Matt and Tyler are roommates, which is what brought Matt to the attention of producers in the first place.)
He continued, “When they offered it to me, I’m like, ‘Oh, bet,’ like, ‘Who’s messing with me?’ And then, you know, as the process furthered, I’m like, ‘Oh, wow, okay. This is monumental.'”
Matt‘s experience on the dating series is the main inspiration behind his memoir. “There was a lot of things that I talked about that, I shared on the show, that never made it to everybody else’s television boxes,” he continued, “and I’m hoping that they can resonate with my story a little bit more, once they’ve seen and felt everything I’ve gone through.”
He said that he always “talked about real s–t with the people on the show” to give them insight into what life with him in the real world would be like, only some of those moments didn’t make the final cut.
“When a lot of that didn’t come across, it just lacked depth,” he shared. “I feel like we could have capitalized on being the first Black Bachelor and having important conversations.”
Meanwhile, Matt and Rachael are having “important conversations” of their own, as they build the foundation of their relationship in the real world and move forward to being (hopefully) a married couple.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK MATT AND RACHAEL ARE A GOOD FIT AS A COUPLE? ARE YOU INTERESTED IN READING HIS BOOK AND GETTING MORE BACKGROUND ON HIS SEASON OF THE BACHELOR?
[Photo Credit: Bryan Bedder/New York Road Runners via Getty Images]
