It’s what ever fan of The Bachelor wants to know: what really goes down inside the Fantasy Suite? The Bachelor season 25 star Matt James opened up about the infamous hotel room in a new interview and reveals the truth. Did he ever sleep with any of his finalists in the suite while filming?
Sorry to disappoint, but the answer is much more wholesome than you may have expected. Matt, 29, told WSJ. Magazine that rather than getting frisky, he spent those nights in the Fantasy Suite talking to finalists Rachael Kirkconnell, Michelle Young, and Bri Springs. “I can’t speak for anybody but myself, but I think the women appreciated it,” Matt said. “Because I did learn things about them that I don’t think I would have learned if I hadn’t used that time to really dive deeper into something that they might not have been comfortable talking about on camera.”
Matt also revealed in the interview that he’s in therapy to work through the fallout of his time on the show. The season was fraught with controversy after Rachael, the eventual winner, was exposed for past racist behavior. She publicly apologized but unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Though she got Matt’s final rose at the end of the season, the couple had split before the finale even aired.
Matt said that he wanted to give Rachael the space to “put in [the] work” to educate herself on racism and how to be antiracist. But, despite their very public breakup, Matt and Rachael are back together and trying to make things work. Matt told WSJ that he didn’t want to speak for her, but, “I think the best way to put it is that we can have critical conversations about being in this relationship and what I need in a partner — especially if that woman isn’t Black — to understand what comes with me and my life and being Black.”
Despite the rocky season, Matt calls The Bachelor “the greatest thing that ever happened to me.” It impacted his relationship with his family deeply. “The conversations I had with my mom, my brother and my dad weren’t in vain,” Matt said. “After the show, I reached out to my Pops, and we talk on a regular basis now. He’s taken steps to make amends with the rest of the family and be a better dad to his kids.”