PHOTO: Getty Images/Lou Rocco

By now, most of us have come to terms with the fact that Arie Luyendyk Jr. is going to be our next Bachelor. No shade to the racing-driver-turned-real-estate-professional who was runner-up on Emily Maynard‘s season of The Bachelorette five (five!) years ago. But until now, everyone’s been kind of asking why when there were more recent people like Hot Peter and giggly Dean Unglert to choose from. Well, Unglert himself is now shedding some light on the network’s decision.

As anyone who’s watched even two episodes of this season of Bachelor in Paradise can tell you, sweet little Deanie Baby showed himself to be far less endearing and commitment-ready than he appeared to be when he was on Rachel Lindsay‘s season of The Bachelorette. After quickly jumping into a relationship with Kristina Schulman from Nick Viall’s season, he soon dragged the former orphan into a love triangle with Danielle Lombard (a.k.a. D-Lo, also from Nick’s season) because, even though Unglert thinks Kristina is “smart and interesting,” D-Lo is “hot.” Not great.

Unglert admitted as much in a new interview with ET, where he conceded that his newfound “f-boy” label—which he finds “annoying” and doesn’t agree with even though he can “see how my actions reflect it”—is likely what prevented him from ever being seriously considered for the role of The Bachelor.

“I talked about it very informally with a few people, but there was never a formal offer extended or anything like that,” Unglert said in the interview. “If you watch two episodes of Paradise, you’ll see very quickly why I’m not the Bachelor this year.”

And honestly, it’s probably for the best that the 25-year-old is not going to be the franchise’s next leading man. The controversy surrounding Unglert has been there from the start: don’t let his blinding white teeth and beaming smile distract you from remembering that he famously made audiences cringe when he blurted out that he was “ready to go Black and never come back” upon meeting Lindsay for the first time. He then shaded her on social media a few months later when an Instagram user shared a photo of herself with Unglert and captioned it “went Black, but came back,” and he seemingly validated that ignorance by writing “Lololol at the caption” in the comments section of the post. Lindsay, for her part, was rightly not having it.

Maybe it’s time we all let go of what could have been and give Luyendyk a chance. He may not be Hot Peter, but Hot Peter also couldn’t commit (to Lindsay or to ABC, if the rumors are to be believed)! At least Luyendyk isn’t worried about putting himself out there. After all, he’s already gone on the record with vows of earnestness: “I’m not concerned what people think. I’m just focused on the outcome. I want to find my person and will do whatever it takes!”

Hey, a little blind faith definitely doesn’t hurt when it comes to matters of the heart.

Related Stories:
–Arie Luyendyk Jr. Is Your Next ‘Bachelor,’ and Honestly Who Asked for This?
–Twitter Cannot Deal With Arie Luyendyk Jr. Being the Next ‘Bachelor’
–I’ve Had Enough of Dean on ‘Bachelor in Paradise’