Love IS ... NOODLING
For Bachelor fan favourites Kevin Wendt and Astrid Loch, a home-cooked meal makes Valentine’s Day special
In the Bachelor universe, hot air balloon excursions at sunrise and horseback rides along the beach are regular occurrences. So one might expect that a couple who met on the reality show would get used to that Harlequin-level of romance and want to maintain it once the cameras are off — especially for their first Valentine’s Day together.
But when I asked Bachelor fan favourites Kevin Wendt and Astrid Loch, who met taping the spinoff show Bachelor in Paradise last June, for their ideal date for that special occasion, they said their preferred first Valentine’s Day together involved staying in and digging into a big bowl of pasta.
So rather than coming up with a complicated multi-course menu, I invited them to cook a simple meal in the Star’s test kitchen.
“I appreciate staying home or just going to the grocery store to pick up something. For New Year’s, we just stayed in and ordered pizza,” says Loch, 28, who first appeared on the 21st season of The Bachelor in 2017, when she worked as an office manager for a plastic surgeon in Tampa, Fla. In December, she moved in with Wendt in Toronto and is enjoying her first Canadian winter, which probably explains why the former Floridian is particularly fond of staying indoors and loading up on carbs.
While the pair aren’t exactly household names, they’ve been particularly embraced by Bachelor fans — or Bachelor Nation as they’re called, since the show has spawned enough contestants, as well as spinoffs, talk shows and wedding specials, to occupy a small country. When the two arrived at the Star, a few coworkers outed themselves as residents of Bachelor Nation when they did double takes and then quietly asked me if the pair are as nice in person as they are on TV.
Wendt, whose day job is a firefighter in Hamilton, first appeared as the “winner” of the first (and only) season of The Bachelorette Canada in 2016. When that relationship didn’t work out, he appeared in U.S. spinoff show The Bachelor Winter Games, which aired last year as
counter-programming to the Winter Olympics.
The premise of summer spinoff Bachelor in Paradise is that previous Bachelor and Bachelorette castoffs pair up to avoid getting kicked off the show. New contestants are introduced each week, creating potential for existing couples to break up and form new showmances, amping up the drama, mascara tears and, of course, Twitter fodder.
But what viewers didn’t expect was for Wendt and Loch to stay together for essentially the duration of the season. For a TV franchise that revels in breakups and heartache, viewers found it refreshing to see a normal (by reality TV standards) relationship play out onscreen.
“I think our most relatable quality is that we’re pretty normal,” says Wendt, 34. “We like cooking, going to a movie, watching Netflix.”
Once in the test kitchen, the two took off their parkas and immediately got to work making a giant pot of spicy sausage penne with vegetables and a Caesar salad. Wendt chopped the vegetables, while Loch simmered the tomato sauce and bravely sautéed the crumbled sausage in a pristine white tee.
I’m not a regular Bachelor viewer, but I have known Wendt since his pre-realityshow days because we go to the same gym. Ironically, the qualities I initially thought would make him a terrible reality show contestant — level-headed and fairly quiet — have made him and Loch standouts on the show.
Deputy entertainment editor and resident Bachelor super-fan Debra Yeo says fans love it when couples make it.
“They just seemed like two nice people who found each other,” she says. “Fans of the show like the crazy parts, but also want to see people fall in love. So when they find out that they’re still together after the show, they root for them.”
In December, the two made headlines in the Daily Mail, Bustle, Life and Style, OK! Magazine, US Magazine and Entertainment Tonight Canada when Loch posted a photo on Instagram announcing that she was moving to Toronto to be with Wendt. A photo of the two of them grocery shopping in Liberty Village made the rounds on Reddit, with comments wishing them the best of luck and a few jokes about salad dressing.
For those who haven’t watched their season of Bachelor in Paradise, Wendt mentioned to Loch that he makes his own salad dressings and it’s become a running joke among fans.
Cooking is actually part of Wendt’s day job. He takes turns making meals for the fire hall. He and his fellow firefighters look through fliers to see what’s on sale before going shopping, making sure to stay within the grocery budget, but also making meals substantial enough to fuel the brigade.
There wasn’t much cooking on Bachelor in Paradise — meals were part of the all-inclusive resort in Mexico, where the show was taped. But while taping Bachelor Winter Games last year, Wendt says he and the other contestants made a lot of baked chicken dinners, sweet potatoes and rice. On her season of The Bachelor, Loch volunteered to be dishwasher while the others cooked, although she says she makes a mean schnitzel.
“Know your strengths and weaknesses,” Loch says when it comes to sharing a kitchen. “I’m the chopper and Kevin does the measuring. But we also take turns cooking or, if it’s a big meal, we’ll do it together.”