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By Latoya West, About.com Guide to Reality TV since 2005

ABC Reveals The Next Bachelor -- Are You Interested, Ladies?

Wednesday November 29, 2006
During the season finale of The Bachelor: Rome, ABC announced that the next bachelor will be a gorgeous, 30-year-old Navy doctor named Andy Baldwin.

In an attempt to get women to apply for the show (yes, you still have time, ladies), ABC also put out a press release hyping the new Bachelor. Here's what the network revealed about Andy, who is currently stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (Thanks to Andy's friend over at the IronMitch blog for the photo.)

Andy grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he was valedictorian in high school and a competitive swimmer who made All-American; he was even named ESPN's National Scholar Athlete of the Year in 1995. His small-town upbringing in a family of modest means taught him a strong work ethic, so as a teenager he worked three jobs (paper boy, lifeguard and his own lawn mowing business), all with an eye towards paying for his college education. As Andy explains, there had never been a doctor or military officer in the Baldwin family before, so he set those professional goals for himself. He saved $25,000 for college before graduating high school, when the Navy offered him a full ROTC scholarship. He took it and went to Duke University, where he was a varsity letter winner on the men's swim team and began training for marathons, all while taking a pre-med course load and earning a degree in biology, with a concentration in genetics. After graduating Duke with honors, he enrolled in the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, and was a surgical intern at Naval Hospital San Diego.

His move to the west coast inspired a new passion -- cycling -- and he combined this with his excellence in swimming and running to compete in his first triathlon in 2000, falling in love with the sport. He has since gone on to compete internationally in numerous Ironman, Half-Ironman and other triathlons and marathons, often ranking among the top 5 finishers in his age group. One of his biggest supporters at his races was his beloved Uncle Tom, who died of pancreatic cancer just one month after diagnosis. To honor his uncle, Andy established a fund to raise money for pancreatic cancer research, and has raised over $20,000 to date. In 2006 he was asked to serve as group surgeon for a team of 50 military personnel headed to Laos. His role during the mission was to take care of the medical needs of his team and to treat Laotian villagers in need of medical attention. The experience was unforgettable.

Andy's achievements are matched by his good-natured personality, stunning good looks and self-deprecating sense of humor. He's an unabashed romantic, has watched the series and believes that the show can help find him the woman who could become his wife. "Who doesn't love the movie 'An Officer and a Gentleman'? We're bringing the best parts of that romantic film to real life," said Mike Fleiss, executive producer of "The Bachelor."

So, ladies, are you interested? To apply to win Andy's heart, go to thebachelor.tv.

Comments

December 10, 2007 at 10:16 pm
(1) Marilyn Mark says:

Plese consider, David from ” I Love New York” season two. I think he would be an excellent choice. Very educated and successful. Also he appears to be very honest person.

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