The Bachelor

Who Is Zach Shallcross? What to Know About the New Bachelor

The 26-year-old said he's not too young to find love: "My take on that is when you know, you know"

Zach Shallcross
Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images

Zach Shallcross didn't find lasting love as one of 32 contestants on the latest season of “The Bachelorette,” but he's ready to give romance another shot.

On Tuesday night, ABC announced that Shallcross, who connected with Bachelorette Rachel Recchia, will once again be searching for his soulmate and will return to the reality show franchise as the next star of the “Bachelor.” He will lead the franchise's 27th season.

Counting the days until the next season premieres? Here are a few facts about Shallcross to tide you over in the meantime.

He works in the technology field

Per his bio on the ABC website, Shallcross is a tech executive based in Anaheim Hills, CA. His LinkedIn lists him as a Senior Cloud Technology Sales Executive at Oracle.

The 26-year-old graduated from California Polytechnic State University in 2019 and said the experience was "absolutely worth it" in an Instagram post at the time.

Shallcross is based in Austin, Texas but is originally from California, according to his football bio.

His zodiac sign is Leo, if you're curious

Shallcross' football bio lists his birthday as July 31, 1996, making his Sun sign Leo.

Zach considers himself an 'old-fashioned romantic'

When he competed on "The Bachelorette," Shallcross described himself as an "old-fashioned romantic" in his bio.

“Zach’s perfect woman is compassionate, kind and ready for romance because Zach is excited to lay it on thick. He loves to plan thoughtful surprises, and nothing makes him happier than seeing the look of excitement on his partner’s face when his meaningful gifts are appreciated,” the bio reads.

It also looks like he's eager to settle down.

"Zach is serious about finding a love that will lead to marriage, so whatever grand romantic gesture it takes for him to get there, he’s ready to go!" the bio reads.

An athlete, his hobbies include football and beach volleyball

The 26-year-old appears to live an active lifestyle. He enjoys beach volleyball and football, per his "Bachelorette" bio. In fact, Shallcross even played college football while attending Cal Poly.

He's close to his family

Shallcross won over viewers over during Season 19 of the “Bachelorette” with his charismatic personality and his polite manners. And it looks like he's a huge softie at heart.

Case in point? He isn't afraid to show his mom a little bit of love on social media and called her an "incredible woman" in a birthday tribute on Instagram in 2020.

Shallcross also has two sisters, per his football bio.

Zach almost made it to the end of 'The Bachelorette'

While competing for Rachel Recchia's affections during the latest season of the "Bachelorette," Shallcross almost made it to the end of the season.

Alas, he eventually made the decision to leave the show, explaining that he didn't feel like he'd met the real version of Recchia during the fantasy suite experience.

Here's what he has said about being the next Bachelor

Shallcross was announced as the new Bachelor during the "After the Rose" live event on Sept. 20. He expressed his excitement after host Jesse Palmer named him as the new lead.

“There’s no words. I’m just taking this in right now,” he said. “This is pretty incredible.”

Even though his journey for love didn't pan out on the "Bachelorette," the 26-year-old said he's ready to give things another try.

“I’m ready to find my person and my best friend,” he said. “That breakup didn’t deter it.”

In a new interview with People, Shallcross described what he's looking for in a relationship.

“There’s really two main things that I look for and first is how kind and compassionate they are. I think that’s something that’s pretty rare nowadays,” he said. “The other thing is having someone that loves to do fun, adventurous stuff with me, whether it’s traveling, trying cool foods.”

The reality star plans to be “a little initially cautious" while dating the new women on the upcoming season of the "Bachelor." But he does plan to show them his romantic side when he gets closer to them.

“One of the biggest lessons I learned was I’m a guy that typically wears his heart on his sleeve,” he said. “If you can show your emotions and not be scared about it, I really think that’s an important attribute, but in my case, I think I fell in love really hard and really fast and I didn’t necessarily take a step back and look at the entire situation from her perspective.”

He says age shouldn't be a factor in his search for love

Shallcross's age, 26, came up on "The Bachelorette" — Recchia questioned whether he was too young.

Speaking to People, Shallcross said he is ready for marriage.

“My take on that is when you know, you know,” he said. “I don’t think that there’s anything where there’s an age limit on when you decide you want to fall in love and get married. if you are ready and you feel well equipped with yourself, you love yourself, you trust yourself and you want to share that with someone else, it doesn’t matter how old you are.”

Zach has a famous uncle

Fun fact: Shallcross's uncle is actor Patrick Warburton, who is known for his work on "Seinfeld," "Rules of Engagement" and "A Series of Unfortunate Events."

Warburton appeared on the hometown visits episode of "The Bachelorette," and joked about his experience on Twitter.

"I’m being asked 'why are you on The Batchelorette ?' It’s my favorite show? I’m addicted..? I have a crush on that Zach Shallcross fellow? Or…all of the above? Or…Zach is my nephew? Or…all of the above?," he wrote.

Last but not least, he's a musician

Shallcross's football bio says that he played guitar in a band for two years and mixes and produces electronic music under the name Verzacky, which you can access on Soundcloud.

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

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