It’s been more than one year since Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor aired, but the season 24 star can still recall nearly walking away from the show for former Bachelorette Hannah Brown.
“I remember the first time that she showed up on my season was the first night with all the limos,” the 29-year-old pilot said on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast, noting he was in “complete shock” when the 26-year-old former Miss Alabama arrived during night one. “That limo showed up and it just sat there for, like, 15-20 minutes. No one got out. And I’m just standing there. No one’s coming up to me — obviously, they don’t show this part. But I’m just, like, there waiting, like, ‘OK, when’s the door gonna open? What kind of surprise is it gonna be?’ No producers are coming up to me or anything.”
Peter, who was joined by his “Bachelors in the City” cohost Dustin Kendrick, was the second runner-up on Hannah’s season 15 of The Bachelorette before he was named the Bachelor for the 2020 season.
“At first I was like, ‘There’s no way that’s Hannah, like, there’s no way.’ [I thought] it was a look-alike. I thought it was just this gorgeous girl … and then I realized her smile. That bright smile, like, that’s Hannah Brown, holy s—t,” he told Us.
After the “emotional” reunion, in which Hannah gave Peter back the wings he gave her on the first night of her season, the former pageant queen returned again to host a date. Fans may recall the twosome having a tense conversation about their feelings for each other before Hannah left for good.
“I was an idiot, producers probably hated me, but I literally, like, I think they edited this part out, I was like, ‘I’m gonna leave the show, like, if you want to, if you want to give this a shot, I’ll leave right now,’” Peter recalled on the podcast. “And she’s like, ‘You can’t do that, Peter, you’re the Bachelor, you signed a contract.’ I’m like, ‘No, like, I’ll do it. What are they gonna do to me?’ … I don’t know what I was thinking that day. I was very confused.”
He added: “I am very in touch with my feelings … and I know when I’m feeling something and when I’m not and I was just kind of going off of what I was feeling there. Maybe I was a little too impulsive.”
In the end, Peter got engaged to Hannah Ann Sluss during the finale of his season. After their brief relationship ended while the season was still airing, he dated contestant Kelley Flanagan for 10 months before calling it quits for good in February. Hannah, for her part, introduced her followers to boyfriend Adam Woolard on Valentine’s Day
“Our lives kind of separated there,” Peter said of Hannah. “You know, I’m super happy for her. I see she’s in an awesome relationship and she seems super happy. So that just makes me super happy. And she’s an amazing person. And I’ve got nothing but great things to say about her.”
Peter, for his part, is focused on the “Bachelors in the City” podcast, where he and Dustin will share their own dating stories and advice.
“When [we] first came here, it was, like, [Dustin] was going out on a date every single night!” Peter said of his roommate and fellow season 15 alum. “I was like, ‘Holy s-t, bro.’ Like, that’s exciting to me. That’s what the city offers you. It’s so many people.”
Dustin replied, “I just need someone there that’s just going to be by my side and pushes me to do better in life. I mean, I’ve met a lot of great girls, but just haven’t met The One yet.”
Peter agreed, concluding that he has “all the faith in the world” that his future wife “is out there.”
For more from Peter and Dustin, listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast and check out “Bachelors in the City,” which drops on Wednesday, April 14.