Who Is Chris Bukowski, The Bachelor Veteran Who Came Out of Retirement?

ABC's "Bachelor in Paradise" - Season Six — (Image credit: Craig Sjodin)

Potential spoilers for Bachelor in Paradise season six ahead. For anyone who's been a longtime fan of Bachelor shows, the name Chris Bukowski will be very familiar. The guy's a veteran of the franchise at this point, and even quit reality TV after several dramatic, and eventually kind of embarrassing appearances (he's stated he has no memory of the second season of Bachelor in Paradise, which he appeared on). But Bukowski is back, making a whole bunch of jokes about how old he is, and apparently giving it one last go to find love. So what do we know about this long-time Bachelorverse contestant?

He owns two bars and is an advisor on a dating app.

Before we get into the crazy drama: Who is this guy? He's apparently a consultant on the dating app Catch, and he owns two successful sports bars, so that's what he's doing with his time in between apparently looking for love and recovering from his various show appearances.

A post shared by Chris Bukowski (@chrisjbukowski)
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He's set the record for most Bachelor franchise appearances.

So, including this appearance on BiP, Chris has been on six Bachelor Nation shows. Wow. According to his bio, Chris was a part of The Bachelorette Season 8 (Emily Maynard), The Bachelorette Season 10 (Andi Dorfman), Bachelor Pad Season 3, and Bachelor in Paradise Seasons 1 and 2. So, like, a good chunk of his life has been show-based, since 2012.

He retired from the show.

In an open letter he wrote in 2015, Chris explained, "We all have our battles, but my TV obsession had taken me down a dark road. I was battling anxiety that led me down a road where I couldn’t find happiness. I compounded the problem by getting addicted to my anxiety medication. How was this happening? How did everything go from perfect to complete crap? It didn’t matter how much money I had or how many women wanted to date me. I was just a hated, desperate person.”

But maybe some time off has helped him clear his head? In the premiere he said he'd dated in the real world and it'd given him some perspective, so...maybe.

At least he has a sense of humor about it.

Chris has shown that he can laugh about the whole thing:

A post shared by Chris Bukowski (@chrisjbukowski)
A photo posted by on

And during the first episode, when Chris Harrison highlighted the record-breaking aspect of Chris B.'s time on Bachelor Nation, Chris B. admitted with a laugh, "Not completely proud of it." So he's all in on the situation.

Early spoilers indicate that this might finally be his season.

No full spoilers here, but there have been rumors that Chris might finally find his person on Bachelor in Paradise. We saw some initial vibing with Katie Morton, she of Colton's Bachelor season who also happens to be friends with Demi Burnett and Hannah Brown. Chris was seen gushing over her gorgeous hazel eyes, saying that she immediately caught his eye. And it's not hard to see why:

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In various BiP trailers, Katie has said she's not into the drama and just looking for one dude to love, so she's clear "there for the right reasons." (An overused sentiment, but potentially true in this case!)

Depending on the outcome, I would love a deep-dive interview with Chris after the show. Did he have a sense that this season might finally be it for him? Did he feel mature enough to finally take the leap? Did he just get tired (lol)? I mean, if he gets engaged or ends up in a committed relationship, what he'll probably say is that he finally found the love of his life, etc. etc., but again I am just so curious how he got to this place after several whirlwind runs on the franchise.

Here's every spoilery thing we know about this season, including how things might shake out for Chris.

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Katherine’s a contributing syndications editor at Marie Claire who covers fashion, culture, and lifestyle. In her role, she writes stories that are syndicated by MSN and other outlets. She’s been a full-time freelancer for over a decade and has had roles with Cosmopolitan (where she covered lifestyle, culture, and fashion SEO content) and Bustle (where she was their movies and culture writer). She has bylines in New York Times, Parents, InStyle, Refinery29, and elsewhere. Her work has also been syndicated by ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping, and Women’s Health, among others. In addition to her stories reaching millions of readers, content she's written and edited has qualified for a Bell Ringer Award and received a Communicator Award.

Katherine has a BA in English and art history from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in art business from the Sotheby's Institute of Art (with a focus on marketing/communications). She covers a wide breadth of topics: she's written about how to find the very best petite jeans, how sustainable travel has found its footing on Instagram, and what it's like to be a professional advice-giver in the modern world. Her personal essays have run the gamut from learning to dress as a queer woman to navigating food allergies as a mom. She also has deep knowledge of SEO/EATT, affiliate revenue, commerce, and social media; she regularly edits the work of other writers. She speaks at writing-related events and podcasts about freelancing and journalism, mentors students and other new writers, and consults on coursework. Currently, Katherine lives in Boston with her husband and two kids, and you can follow her on Instagram. If you're wondering about her last name, it’s “I go to dinner,” not “Her huge ego,” but she responds to both.