PLAYING THE FIELD
Ex-ball player new Bachelor
The Bachelor Canada Debuts Wednesday, W Network
Chris Leroux is ready to settle down — and he doesn’t want to do it alone.
After 12 seasons as a majorleague baseball pitcher, Montreal-born Leroux, 33, is on the hunt for a home close to his parents in Mississauga, Ont., where he looks forward to doing “normal” stuff such as camping, going to the cottage, getting married and starting a family.
Enter The Bachelor Canada. Starting Wednesday, Leroux will begin his love journey on our home and native land’s version of the popular U.S. franchise. Will he find a wife among the 20 beautiful women he meets on the season première? He’s not telling. But here’s what he did reveal during a recent phone chat with Postmedia:
Q Why did you ultimately decide to retire from baseball?
A My last season in Buffalo I was pretty good and I never got an opportunity in Toronto. I think with my age and the writing on the wall. Basically, ‘you’re too old, you’re not what we want.’ I was just tired of that. I was just like, I’ll give real life a try for a minute.
Q What sort of vision do you have for your family?
A I’m a pretty normal guy. I want a couple of kids that have respect for their elders. I want a wife who loves me for me and I want to love her for her and all of that stuff. When that comes, that’s a good question. But that’s what I’m looking for.
Q Why do you think you haven’t been successful up until this point?
A I don’t want to say I haven’t been successful. People think I’m helpless when it comes to (love). I think it’s mostly about timing with me. I’ve been so consumed by baseball and by making money that I almost forgot about the most important things in life. So it’s good that baseball is on the back burner right now and I can focus on my relationships with people. It’s not about finding a job, it’s not about making money, it’s about having good relationships with people that I love.
Q What are you looking for in a wife?
A When it comes down to looks, there’s really no particular thing that I look for. Maybe I’d say a healthy person, someone who has that healthy living vibe about her. When it comes to personality, I’m a little more picky. I like somebody that’s funny, somebody that has a good heart, I like somebody who’s kind. Those are my deal-breakers. If you’re not any of those, then we’re probably not going to get along very well.
Q How did you prepare for the show? Did you work out a lot?
A My preparation was very limited. I guess I worked out but whether I work out seven days a week for three hours a day or whether I work out zero times a week my body is gong to look similar. Genetically I’ve been blessed. My parents are both 65 years old and they’re both in really good shape. So it’s kind of a blessing and a curse. I want to be bigger, I want to look like Arnold (Schwarzenegger), but it’s never going to happen for me.
Q What about emotional preparation?
A I didn’t do any emotional preparation whatsoever. It was kind of a crash course for me. I had a lot of things that I wasn’t so good at. I wasn’t so good about opening up, I wasn’t so good about talking about myself. It was a challenge. I think that I’ve become a better person because of this show. I want to thank the people involved in this show because they taught me to be a better man and without them I would be the same old person that I was last year.
Q So you’re more in touch with your emotions?
A I’m way more in touch with my emotions, how to treat people, what a relationship entails. I was always very good at making people happy, but it was all very surface.
Now that the show has taught me how to dive deeper, I realize that that’s what matters in a relationship and not the surface stuff.
Q There tends to be a lot of drama among the women on The Bachelor. Is it safe to say that happens with your season?
A Yeah, but I don’t know if it revolves around me or not. A lot of it is between the girls on the show. I’ve always tried to steer myself away from any type of drama. If anything happens in a relationship where there’s any kind of yelling or screaming, I kind of just shut down. And whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up for discussion, but that’s how I’ve been. But I don’t like arguing, I don’t like fighting, so you probably won’t see any of that from me on the show.
Q There’s always a lot of social media commentary that comes with doing a reality show. Are you going to follow along or will you avoid it?
A I’ve been booed off the field at Yankee Stadium. Nothing fazes me. I’m not really on social media. All of my closest friends know not to tell me about the stuff that they read because they know it doesn’t affect me. I just don’t even care. I respect the fact that you’re a super fan, but your opinion doesn’t matter.
Q Can you tell me if you’re engaged, or in a relationship?
A I’m not allowed to tell you that.