Never mind the Bahamas; ‘The Bachelorette’ shows off the romantic side of Manteca
The popular dating series “The Bachelorette” is known for traveling to lavish locales like the Bahamas, Thailand and Malibu. But this week, instead of luxuriating on a tropical beach, the show took viewers to the farm fields of Manteca.
The ABC reality series, now in it’s 14th season, featured the Central Valley city as part of its “Hometown Dates” episode. Since it started in May, the show has followed bachelorette Becca Kufrin as she looks for love. The initial field of 28 men had been narrowed down to the final four before this week’s episode.
Contestant Garrett Yrigoyen, a 29-year-old medical sales representative who lives in Reno, was among the finalists and took Kufrin to meet his family in Manteca. Together they sat on a tractor and planted tomato seedlings as he showed her his family’s “agricultural business.” Later they had dinner with his parents and siblings in their Manteca home.
Yrigoyen’s “The Bachelorette” biography reads: “Raised in a small town in Central California, Garrett is a true outdoorsman who loves fly fishing, hiking and snowshoeing. When he’s not on an outdoor adventure, he’s perfecting his Chris Farley impression. He’s excited to find love with the Bachelorette…down by the river!”
A 2007 Sierra High School graduate, Yrigoyen has been one of Kufrin’s favorites since the start of the season, when she gave him the “First Impression” rose. His frontrunner status has continued over the weeks as the couple has gotten to know each other better.
But his tenure on the show has not been without controversy. Shortly after the season premiered, news reports surfaced showing Yrigoyen had liked several offensive posts on Instagram. Some of the posts made fun of undocumented immigrants, transgender people and feminist women. Others criticized the survivors of the Parkland high school shooting and called them “crisis actors.”
In response to the discovery, Yrigoyen took down his Instagram account and then started a new one with a statement about the controversy. In it he apologized to people he hurt and offended.
“I never realized the power behind a mindless double tap on Instagram and how it bears so much weight on people’s lives. I did not mean any harm by any of it,” he wrote. “My Instagram ‘likes’ were not a true reflection of me and my morals. I am not the negative labels people are associating me with. For those who do know me, I am a sincere, genuine, loving, light-hearted, open-minded and non-judgmental individual.”
During his hometown date, Yrigoyen opened up about why his first marriage ended in divorce. He told Kufrin part of their breakup two years ago was due to his ex-wife not sharing the same family values as him. Later his parents told her how hard it is to find someone with his “deep values.”
“Garrett’s family is so kind there’s just so much heart and love behind all of them. And that’s something I want in my future partner’s family and in my future family. I could see myself fitting in with his family for life and starting a family on our own,” Kufrin said after their date.
The hometown date episode in Manteca was filmed this April, before the start of the season. Footage of a crowd welcoming the couple at the Manteca Transit Center was captured, but ultimately not used in the episode.
The other dates featured in the episode included a stop at an ice rink in Buffalo and two dates in Colorado where she alternately discussed a past school shooting and visited sick children in the hospital. Yrigoyen ultimately made it to the next round and is among the only three men left who traveled to Thailand for the next episode. “The Bachelorette” airs at 8 p.m. Mondays on ABC.
This story was originally published July 19, 2018 at 2:07 PM.