Dating after “The Bachelor” is no bed of roses.
Chelsea Vaughnwho participated in the reality show in 2021, lifted the curtain on finding love after being scolded by the leading man of the series, which airs its season 27 finale on March 27.
“Dating in New York was pretty difficult even before I went on the show,” Vaughn, 30, told The Post.
Now it is even more difficult.
Being in the “Bachelor” world, you don’t get all the negatives and the good parts of being famous… We’re not really famous, but I get people recognizing me, coming up to me, and I’m everywhere. Can’t take my picture.”
The Runway model applied to the show in June 2020 because she was attracted to its leading man, Matt James, the first black “Bachelor,” who lived on the Lower East Side.
She was kicked out on week six and returned to the Bushwick home in November 2020 — but was contractually not allowed to date on dating apps or in public for four months, unless she was not broadcast.
“It kind of puts a damper on your personal life because you have months that you’re filming and then there are months in between and then it airs and you have those months,” he explained.
When she was allowed to resume courting, she was reluctant to return to dating apps.
After working on “Bachelor in Paradise,” the franchise’s summer dating series where the castoffs get together on the beach, she joined elite dating app Raya for a year.
“It wasn’t the best for me. I didn’t go on any dates from there,” she said. “I think some people on Raya are there to watch and be seen.”
She likes Raya’s privacy because users can’t screenshot other people’s information and share it on social media — something Vaughn experienced herself when she returned to civilian life and forgot to delete her old dating profiles. .
“I saw it under my name on Reddit. Someone had taken a screenshot of my dating profile and in the comments section, they all ripped it,” she recalled.
Vaughn, who launched a podcast, “Wagonrable” last year, said that getting exposure from the ABC series helped her in her professional life — but not when it came to finding a partner.
The Georgia native admits that viewers of the show would be unaware of her reality star status. 77 percent leans towards women.
“But I’ve been on dates where I thought they didn’t know, and then like two hours into the date, they told me they did,” she said. “One said his roommate told him, ‘You should bring him home so we can see him.'”
She soon realized that potential boys already had a leg up.
“When you go on a first date with someone, you want to go into it with a blank slate,” she said. “It’s a false advantage if you Googled me … I know it was a national television show, but I shared personal things”
Meeting people offline is also difficult. Men approach her, but it’s mostly to ask for a photo to bring home to their significant others.
“Usually it’s ‘Oh my God, I watch the show with my girlfriend, can I get a picture?'” she explained.
“But sometimes they hit on you, like after they say and I’m like, ‘Do you have a girlfriend or not?'”
