Rachel Truehart of Southampton competes on "The Bachelor"
1
SOUTHAMPTON - A Southampton native will be among the 25 women vying for one man when the 16th season of "The Bachelor" premieres on ABC Monday night.
Rachel Truehart, 27, is back her hometown to watch the premiere with her family at their Lead Mine Road home, though she now lives in New York City.
On the show, Truehart and 24 other women contended for the affection of bachelor Benjamin Flajnik. He ultimately chose one lucky lady, but the results will not be revealed until the season finale.
Reached Thursday in Southampton, Truehart said her journey to being on the show began when she was nominated as a contestant. "I was nominated for it by a family friend after I got out of my last relationship, and then I went through the interview process and was chosen," she said.
Truehart said she could not reveal much about her experience on the show because she signed a confidentiality agreement with ABC.
A fashion sales representative in New York, Truehart received her bachelor's degree in marketing and psychology from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island in 2006. Before that, Truehart attended Hampshire Regional High School in Westhampton and the Norris School in Southampton.
She is not the only reality television star in the family. Her sister, Crystal Truehart, 24, was one of the models featured on the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, a show about a modeling agency that ran for four seasons on the cable network Oxygen, ending in 2008.
Rachel Truehart said her sister had a few words of wisdom for her before she set off to shoot "The Bachelor" earlier this year:
"'Be yourself' was her biggest piece of advice," Rachel Truehart said. "She said, 'Don't trust the producers,' but they turned out to be really nice."
According to ABC, the bachelorettes traveled to Puerto Rico, Switzerland and South Africa while wooing Flajnik. A winemaker from Sonoma, Calif., Flajnik, 28, was a losing contestant on the last season of "The Bachelorette."
Truehart will be watching when the show premieres Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC. "The Bachelor" is on at that time every Monday and reruns the following Sunday at 4 p.m.
Rebecca Everett can be reached at reverett@gazettenet.com.
