ARIE’S DOUBLE LIFE EXPOSED
Off to a thorny start! New Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. is accused of being a womanizer with a penchant for younger ladies
He seemed like the perfect pick. “I could not be more excited for this journey I’m about to embark on,” Arie Luyendyk Jr. gushed after being named the next Bachelor, making it clear to women everywhere that unlike many before him, he is there solely to find love. “I want to find my person and will do whatever it takes!”
But some say Arie is not what he seems. Almost immediately after he was announced as the Season 22 lead, women from his past (and even a former friend!) came forward, claiming the dreamy race car driver leads a disturbing double life. “Arie has two sides to his personality,” a source tells In Touch, adding that it could be one of the reasons producers waited more than four years to bring back the fan favorite, 36. (Arie was Emily Maynard’s runner-up on Sea- son 8 of The Bachelorette in 2012.) “The producers have heard stories about him. I think they were always scared to take a chance on him knowing that [women] could come out of the woodwork.”
That’s exactly what has happened. “The show would be perfect for [Arie] up until it comes to choosing just one,” his ex Sydney Stempfley tweeted after hearing he had landed the spot. Sydney, 26, says she was “blindsided” when she learned Arie was becoming the next Bachelor a month after he ended their one-year relationship. “I have questions, of course, [ like ‘Is this] why you broke up with me?’” she says. Another of Arie’s exes, former Arizona-based sports reporter Jenna Jones, isn’t staying quiet, either. “Blindly follow a dude who claims to be a hopeless romantic but forever cheats on and does despicable wrongs to women. Got it,”
C she tweeted, assuring her followers she “got out of that s--long ago.”
Scorned exes aren’t his only problem. After the announcement, several users on the website Reddit posted that the former NASCAR racer had a reputation for dating very young women well into his 30s. Arie’s pal, former Bachelor Sean Lowe, 33, seemed to back up the claim. “I’m lobbying Bachelor producers to let me follow Arie around and slap him every time he thinks about giving a rose to someone half his age,” Sean tweeted on Sept. 13. Season 8 Bachelorette winner Jef Holm, 33, has his own shocking opinion of Arie. “Oh the stories I could tell,” he recently tweeted.
“I stopped being friends with [Arie] years ago because he’s disgusting.”
Arie’s also got a rap sheet. The Arizona resident was arrested in 2008 for driving with a suspended license and for not having a valid registration (see his mug shot, left). Adds the source, “Arie’s always had a wild side.”
His critics predict he will bomb as the Bachelor. “Arie knows how to turn on the charm,” says the source, but once the women get to know him for who he really is, “it’s going to take a lot of convincing on his part to explain to them that he really wants a fiancée.” ◼