Entertainment
Colton Is Ready For His Hometown Date
As Becca whittles down her choices to the final four on The Bachelorette, she's gearing up to visit Colton, Blake, Garrett, and Jason's hometowns.As a fan-favorite, people want to know where Colton is from. The Bachelorette contestant is named for his hometown football team which, given his past football dreams, is no surprise.
Colton's ABC biography says he's currently in Denver, Colorado, but that's not his hometown. It's Indianapolis, Indiana. "Colton was named after the Indianapolis Colts which would turn out to be fitting for this lifelong football player," the bio states. "He played professionally for three teams before an injury forced him to retire. Post-football, Colton has dedicated himself to helping children fighting Cystic Fibrosis. When he's not working on his charity, he's spending time with his family and his dog, Sniper."
According to his LinkedIn, Colton attended the Illinois State University from 2010 to 2014, where he majored in business administration and, of course, played football. After college he was a tight end on the practice squads for the Philadelphia Eagles, then the San Diego Chargers, and finally the Oakland Raiders. Unfortunately, an injury forced Colton into early retirement from playing but as his bio says, he turned his focus to charity.
Colton started the Colton Underwood Legacy Foundation, a charity focused on helping children living with cystic fibrosis and their families. Colton was inspired by his cousin Harper, a 4-year-old who has the disease. According to the foundation's website, they've given around $100,000 in cash and equipment donations since 2015.
Besides donations, the foundation has started the Legacy Project, with the goal of giving 50 AffloVests to one CF patient in each state. The vest is "a physician prescribed treatment option, is quiet, light and uses a battery pack to allow for freedom of movement so its user can go about daily activities." Colton's foundation has also raised over $60,000 for the CF Foundation through football camps.
Colton's charity work is admirable, and certainly one of the reasons Becca has kept him around this long despite drama like having a previous relationship with her friend and fellow Bachelor star, Tia. In a blog for People, Becca opened up about Colton and Tia, saying, "So, when Colton revealed the truth about his previous relationship with Tia, I was frustrated, shocked and left with a million questions." She admitted that she didn't know if she could trust him, and even wanted to send him home then. She didn't, however, because "the fact of the matter is I was really drawn to Colton for reasons other than just our chemistry and how impressed I was with his charity for Cystic Fibrosis. I felt like there was an invisible pull, something that in my gut told me to not discount our spark."
In the promo for Bachelorette hometown dates, fans see that Colton's past with Tia is going to come up again. Seeing as Tia told Becca during the spa group date that she no longer had feelings for him, I'm guessing this time she came back because she wants to tell him the opposite. If Becca sends Colton home for this reason, I'll feel a lot better about it than if she sent him home because he is a virgin, which Colton revealed during their one-on-one date in the Bahamas.
Some were upset about how The Bachelorette handled that reveal — like Ashley Iaconetti, the franchise's former token virgin, who tweeted, "Just the fact that virgins on The Bachelor franchise are set up to have these serious sit down talks about our inexperience and personal choices is ridiculous." Regardless, it happened, and Becca thankfully didn't judge Colton for his choices and advanced him to hometown dates. It seems like she may be way more judge-y for his relationship with Tia before coming on her show, but let's be real — we all are. Bachelor Nation will see what goes down in Indianapolis in the next episode.