The 'Bachelorette' alum chats with ET live on Facebook.
Luke Pell may not have become the Bachelor, but he’s still very much tapped into Bachelor Nation! ET chatted with him on Monday after he spent the weekend hanging with fellow Bachelor and Bachelorette alumni, including his ex, JoJo Fletcher, and the man who became Bachelor instead of him: Nick Viall.
EXCLUSIVE: Why Nick Viall Became ‘The Bachelor,’ Not Frontrunner Luke Pell
First, Pell caught up with Fletcher at iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball in Los Angeles on Friday. “It’s always interesting [to see her],” he tells ET. “I’ve seen her a couple of times since the summer. It’s always interesting, but -- good to catch up.” Pell, a country singer-songwriter, is working on his first EP, and revealed the former Bachelorette asked if any songs on it will be about his relationship with her. His answer? “Absolutely!”
“A lot of my life comes out into my music, and so this year, with going on The Bachelorette and everything that's happened, is no different," he says. "It was a roller coaster that I went through that definitely comes out in the music...She was concerned. I was like, ‘It’s not that bad! It’s cool!’… That relationship [with JoJo] and every other relationship I’ve had, too. It all kind of comes together.” Pell plans to release his first single in January, and roll out his EP (likely self-titled) in early 2017.
He also saw Viall at Jingle Ball, and admits the meetup was “surreal” since Viall just finished filming what was almost Pell’s Bachelor season. They hung out a second time over the weekend, along with pal Chris Soules, but they didn’t discuss Pell’s near-Bachelor status. “It was a little bit of an elephant in the room,” Pell shares. “It really was… I wish the best for him.”
EXCLUSIVE: Jared Haibon Reveals How ‘Bachelor’ Nick Viall Is Doing After Filming
The Nashville resident says he’s heard chatter about how Viall’s season went. “I think right out of the box, night one’s going to be a little different than it’s been in the past,” he teases. Pell says he plans to watch the Bachelor premiere (Jan. 2 on ABC) but isn’t sure if he’ll watch weekly after that.
So, would Pell appear on another season of a Bachelor franchise show? “I’m expecting those conversations to probably start just from being an alum,” he says. “We’ll see how that goes in the spring. I don’t think that’s going to be in the cards from my standpoint, but I’ll just kind of make that decision when I get to that point.” The 32-year-old says he’d most likely do a season of Bachelor in Paradise, if anything. “Bachelorette was such an intensive schedule,” he says. “For eight weeks you’re just completely unplugged from your life…It would be hard for me to do that…Paradise is quick, it films really quick, it’s on the beach!”
But, what if he was offered the Bachelor spot again? “After this past experience with it, that would be really tough,” he says of taking the gig. “It’s a lot emotionally and mentally to prepare for.”
EXCLUSIVE: Luke Pell Reveals How He Found Out About ‘Bachelor’ Decision
For now, Pell is single, and admittedly busy with his music career. Plus, dating has gotten tougher with his newfound fame. “It’s got its own different set of pitfalls [now],” he says, adding that some women seem to be only interested in him because he was on TV. “I love confidence and I love somebody that has a sense of humor,” he says. “That is the biggest turn-on for me, when somebody’s just confident in who they are and they’re genuine. These days so many people have this character of who they are on Instagram or something like that, and they’re very tied to that persona, and they’re not that in real life. They’re kind of fake and very narcissistic. So when I can find somebody who’s genuine, and an open book and I’m attracted to them, that’s awesome.”
ET also chatted with Fletcher and her bestie, Becca Tilley, on Friday. Find out what they had to say about their relationships in the video below!