Cassie Bachelor

Cassie Was On Another Reality Show Right Before ‘The Bachelor’

By Sweetest Betch You'll Ever Meet | February 13, 2019
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It’s an inconvenient truth that many reality stars have been on more than one show. Stassi Schroeder was on The Amazing Race before she became your favorite member of the Witches of WeHo, Cameran Eubanks was on The Real World before she was Shep’s unrequited love on Southern Charm, and Colton Underwoods’s favorite just-the-tip partner, Cassie, was on a reality series called Young Once. I’m shocked! Scandalized! Offended! Actually, I’m kidding. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but reality stars all just want to be famous, and they’ll go on as many shows as it takes. My apologies if you’re the last person on Earth who thought Bachelor contestants were there for “the right reasons.” Have they told you about the tooth fairy yet? I sure hope so. Fictional concepts aside, here’s what I was able to learn about Cassie’s reality show, Young Once.

Young Once describes itself as a “television docuseries which follows a group of students from one of North America’s most conservative schools, where alcohol, drugs and sex are off-limits. Woven between the campus pranks, romances and finals, is a funny and endearing coming-of-age story that doesn’t take itself too seriously but shows the depth and contemplative nature of the students.” Sounds boring af. Wait. Does this mean that if if no one is having sex you can call your reality show a “docuseries?” Mike Fleiss, you can change the marketing for this season. The Bachelor: Colton Edition is definitely a docuseries. BURN.

So here’s the deal. The first season of Young Once aired in 2016 and followed Cassie and her boyfriend at the time, Caelan (not to be confused with Caelynn), as they drank virgin piña coladas, watched Leave it to Beaver, and dry humped on an IKEA couch, exclaiming, “the contract says this is okay!” I paraphrased that quote, and most of their activities, but according to all the lovelies on the bachelor subreddit, students do have to sign a no-sex contract. (Please don’t tell my dad those exist!) That no-sex contract sounds worse than the contract I signed for my shoebox Upper West Side apartment, and that one required me to cook on a hot plate for a year. Then, in 2018, Cassie and Caelan went back and filmed season 2, which is airing now and follows Cassie and her slightly tweaked face as she and Caelan are at a crossroads in their relationship. Spoiler alert: the relationship ends.

As people got wind of this show airing at the same time as The Bachelor and featuring Cassie with a maybe-boyfriend, Bachelor Nation was naturally up in arms. They will not abide a contestant dating more than one person at a time! It’s only okay when the leads do it! So Cassie and Caelan each addressed the controversy on Instagram, the People magazine of millennials. Let’s take a look:

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I’m posting this here so no words can be misconstrued. As many know, my ex girlfriend is currently a contestant on the tv show The Bachelor. The both of us have also appeared on a documentary series called Young Once. The show catches you up on our lives as the first season was shot at Biola University while we were still going to school there. They happened to catch the closing of mine and Cassie’s on and off relationship during the recording of this show. Make no mistake that Young Once was filmed before The Bachelor, and the fact that they are airing at the same time is a strategy to attract viewers. Both Cassie and I made mistakes in our relationship, but I think we’d both agree it dragged out much too long anyways. This is because I persistently pursued a reunion and she knowingly kept the door open at times because of indecisiveness, neither of which matters because it has been over for good since before she went on The Bachelor. However, it can be said without a doubt that her and I were not a fit for each other. Also, I’m sure there are millions of breakups that have lasted longer than they should have and nobody should be held at fault for that. The reality of the situation is that Cassie is a great girl. Her decision to go on The Bachelor was a decisive moment in my life to move forward so why couldn’t it serve as that for her as well? If I met my dream girl a month after our final closing this summer that would just be how God had it planned for me. Nobody has the right to tell her whether or not she has good intentions. So although the full truth may not be out…not everybody’s business needs to be on reality tv. Cassie will eventually explain her side and I endorse whatever she says because there is no reason for her to hide the truth. I wish her nothing but success and happiness moving forward. I post this because of the outlets who reached out to hear “my side” and because I heard Cassie was receiving a lot of negativity for our past relationship. I thought this would be the best way to preserve the truth and encourage the trolls to check themselves before tearing down a good human being. Life is about moving forward, not dwelling on the past ?

A post shared by Caelan Tiongson (@caelantiongson) on

Oh hi, Caelan, you’re cute! Want to replace a Bachelor I know? In his post, Caelan basically says that Young Once was filmed before The Bachelor, and the fact that they are airing at the same time is “a strategy to attract viewers.” No duh. And you posting about this show is also “a strategy to attract viewers.” Ain’t nobody better than anybody else here, pal! The rest is basically a boring company line, so let’s take one more look at his pretty face instead.

Caelan’s explanation is pretty much what you would expect from any PR person. Cassie’s explanation, on the other hand, is very suspicious. Let’s analyze.

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I’m getting a lot of questions about my ex and a docuseries we filmed before Bachelor. While I don’t feel it is necessary that I share all the details, a lot of people are curious and the worst thing is false rumors. I didn’t want to address this without his permission, but he posted about it today so I think it’s good if I do too. Caelan and I dated all through college and in 2015 we filmed Young Once. A while after our breakup we put our past behind us and became friends again. We share a lot of mutual friends and he is close to my family. We both dated other people and had moved on. While we were never officially a couple again, there was a time last spring that we considered getting back together, but that didn’t work out. I was open to staying friends, but he understandably thought this was too hard. Just because we didn’t work out doesn’t mean we now hate each other and don’t care about the other. It just wasn’t right for us. Since I was the one saying we couldn’t be together, this was extra hard for him. Relationships are complicated and navigating isn’t usually straight forward. We were on and off for so long that turning it off for good was a difficult decision as I truly didn’t want to regret giving up if we were meant to be. But certain things were unhealthy and it became clear we were supposed to move on. Over the summer, unexpectedly and out of the blue, we were contacted by YO and learned they were considering a S2- a follow up on some of the original cast. This again put Caelan and I directly back in each other’s lives as our social circle overlaps. One of the storylines highlighted is our drawn out/complex relationship and the challenges of us staying friends post breakup and whether it is possible or not. We filmed for several weeks prior to Caelan heading to Asia to play pro basketball and before I found out that I was cast for Bachelor. The timing of everything was completely chance. I care very much about Caelan and I want nothing but the best for him and his life. Meanwhile I am back to real life, focusing on grad school, working and trying to remain grounded as I balance this new intense scrutiny of my life.

A post shared by Cassie Randolph (@cassierandolph) on

Okay, a glamour shot. Sure. Very relevant to the caption! Way to take a page out of Jenna’s playbook. I guess Cassie doesn’t want to hurt Colton’s feelings by posting an old picture with someone who has more sex appeal in his left pinky than Colton has in his entire spray-tanned body. Makes sense. Cassie claims that during the second season of Young Once she and Caelan were never a couple again, and I can’t dispute this fact since I never watched this show, never will, and I think she knows that. Clever.

What I would like to point out is that Cassie claims they filmed before she knew she was going on The Bachelor. OH, REALLY? Because according to Reality Steve, Young Once was filmed TWO WEEKS before Cassie went on The Bachelor. If you believe she didn’t know she was going on The Bachelor at that point, then you must also believe that the world is flat, and that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are getting back together, and I believe that I don’t want to know you. I understand Cassie not wanting to look like a two-timer, but didn’t that conservative Christian college tell you thou shalt not lie? Or did they forget that lesson while they were busy policing the students’ drinking habits?

And that’s Young Once! Have any of you actually watched it? Do I dare tear my eyes away from Russian Doll to give it a chance? Let me know!

Images: Disney ABC Press; Giphy; caelantiongson, cassierandolph/Instagram