Contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have been known to join the franchise with some pretty interesting job titles in tow, from Tiara the chicken enthusiast to Jonathan the tickle monster to Haley and Emily the twins. This past season of The Bachelor, with Matt James (opens in new tab) in the titular role, was relatively tame in terms of its diverse cast of working women (opens in new tab), but it did bring the return of Heather the "never been kissed" (opens in new tab) and introduced The Bachelor's first-ever royal, Victoria Larson, a self-titled queen.
To be clear, in case you're confused, this isn't the Queen Victoria who was born 202 years ago and ruled Great Britain for an impressive 64 years. Though, if you think about it, that monarch's search for a suitable husband after her coronation did somewhat resemble The Bachelorette in that Victoria had plenty of eligible bachelors to choose from, ultimately chose Albert (who was definitely there for the right reasons) predominantly as a love match rather than the traditional power play, and married him in a wedding that was widely publicized and immortalized in every possible media format of the day—but I digress.
The modern-day Queen Victoria is a 28-year-old entrepreneur and, as far as we can tell, descends not from actual royalty but from the Scott Disick school of self-styled monarchs. Here's everything you need to know about Larson, who jumped crown-first into the center of the drama on night one of The Bachelor, and continued to do so until she was ultimately eliminated by James.
Her resumé is stacked.
Like any good queen, Larson stays booked and busy. She currently resides in Los Angeles and is the founder of two companies, Vikki Larson Beauty (opens in new tab) and JetSetGlo (opens in new tab), a mobile spray tanning company targeting "jetsetters," a lifestyle that Larson herself has recently outgrown, according to her official ABC bio. She's also a certified pilates instructor, health coach, and real estate agent, and was formerly a flight attendant on private planes.
A post shared by Queen Victoria Larson (@victorialarson_) (opens in new tab)
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According to a recent Instagram post (opens in new tab), Larson, a New York City native, got her start at Florida State University, where she first became interested in all things health and wellness, and which she attended on a full academic scholarship. She left college before graduating, choosing instead to "venture on self discovery in a non college setting," and recently chose to return to her education via a health coach training program.
The whole "queen" thing is a recent rebrand.
As the first episode of The Bachelor aired on Jan. 4, Instagram influencer Serena Kerrigan, who has branded herself as the "queen of confidence," revealed that she had given Larson confidence coaching. "I think it's safe to say she really took my 'act like a queen' advice seriously," Kerrigan wrote (opens in new tab) on Twitter. Um, yeah.
'Victoria Larson arrives on night one of The Bachelor.'
According to her bio for The Bachelor, this ultra-confident queen is on the hunt for "a strong man who can keep up but who won't be controlling in any way, shape or form." Her ideal king is loyal and honest, respects her independence, speaks her love language of physical touch, and values meditation and spirituality as highly as she does.
She also isn't afraid to fight back against body-shaming: A video leaked that showed one of Matt James's friends mocking Larson's figure while they're playing golf. (I'm not going to repeat the comments, but you can watch the video for yourself here (opens in new tab).) In response, Larson—like a true queen—posted a bikini photo with the caption: "Tell me again how my body doesn't look so good?" She deleted the photo and then re-posted it with the caption: "Y’all r too much."
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She made a brief appearance in the pageant world—for an important cause.
As if Larson doesn't already have enough going on, she also entered the Miss California USA competition at the beginning of last year. In an Instagram post (opens in new tab) announcing her decision to join the pageant, she explained that she was entering with a hope of empowering young women and advocating for more stringent regulations on the pharmaceutical industry, stemming from her own history of prescription drug abuse.
"I am so excited for Miss California USA and my platform of lobbying for stricter pharmaceutical laws after struggling with adderall addiction in my life," she wrote. "Meditation, spiritual healing, mindful movement, and self growth into self awareness has built me into being [confidently] beautiful. Way more than a pill allowing me to fit a certain dress size while destroying my mental health ever could. I'm honored to guide other young girls to being more confident through self love."
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She was the "villain" of this season of The Bachelor.
Larson stirred up so much drama, in fact, that fans and Bachelor alumni alike theorized that she might be a "producer plant (opens in new tab)"—basically, not a real contestant. Franchise veteran Ashley I. wondered (opens in new tab) in a Cosmo piece, "Is Victoria a hired actress?" and J.P. Rosenbaum tweeted (opens in new tab), "No way she’s just a random contestant."
'Victoria Larson and Matt James talk on night one of The Bachelor.'
Ultimately, Larson was eliminated by James after another contestant, Katie Thurston, told James that there was a "toxic" environment of the house, rife with bullies—one of them being Larson. James chose not to give Larson a rose, to which she told him, "I honestly feel so sorry for you that you would listen to hearsay and not all of the facts behind a situation, so goodbye."
Larson then went on Good Morning America to say, "If my words or actions hurt anyone, I sincerely apologize and I’ll do better and hold myself accountable. I’m not a bully. I'm really not."
In the weeks after her exit from the show, Larson deleted Instagram and then returned to it but went private. When her mugshot emerged from a 2012 arrest, she and her friends used the image to create custom hoodies:
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And former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay has spoken out on the show's handling of Larson, saying: "People are not entertained and amused by Victoria, or the 'queen' as she calls herself, yet she got to go on Good Morning America and was given a bigger platform...All her behavior is being rewarded."
Andrea Park is a Chicago-based writer and reporter with a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the extended Kardashian-Jenner kingdom, early 2000s rom-coms and celebrity book club selections. She graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism in 2017 and has also written for W, Brides, Glamour, Women's Health, People and more.
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