With the New Year comes the beginning of many new television shows. One of the most popular is ABC’s “The Bachelor,” and this season, a Grand Valley State University alumna will be featured on the show.

Lauren Solomon graduated from GVSU in 2007 with a degree in broadcast journalism. During her time in college, she worked at WGVU, the B.O.B and the JW Marriott. Now, Solomon said she hopes to get back into television after leaving for a while to start her own concierge business in Los Angeles.

“…I’m ready to get back into hosting/reporting,” she said. “It’s truly my passion and calling.”

In order to get on “The Bachelor,” Solomon had to do many on-camera and in-person interviews. After being chosen for the final round of casting, she was flown to L.A., where medical tests and psychological tests are done, and then had to complete more paperwork and interviews. The whole process took about four months.

“My particular experience going through casting was really long and stressful because I was the last person to find out they were casted on my season,” Solomon said. “They kept telling me I would know soon, and it got delayed over and over and over. I found out seven days before flying out that I was casted, so I had no time to really get anything done before shooting or to prepare myself really.”

Solomon is not new to national television shows, as she has been on others such as Minute to Win It. While the producers of “The Bachelor” were worried that she might be doing the show for the wrong reasons, Solomon said she wanted to be on the show to have an adventure.

“I really did the show to have an adventure, travel and have a once in a lifetime opportunity/experience,” she said. “…Out of anyone, I probably hid from cameras more than anyone while I was there. I’m very modest, and I didn’t go looking for attention like some of the girls who were there. I quickly realized that I enjoyed being on camera much more when it’s in a professional capacity, but being on camera on a reality show is much different and it’s centered around drama, which I avoid like the plague and didn’t want to be a part of.”

Solomon added that she thought she wouldn’t get much air time because she was more “drama-free” than many of the other girls.

“Everything that happens on the show is heavily manipulated, and I’m a very ‘real’ and drama-free person, so I felt a little out of place at times,” she said. “At other times, I had a total blast. Call me naive, but I didn’t realize just how manipulated things were.”

Solomon said she enjoyed her time on the show, but it was not what she expected. It was hard for her to connect with Juan Pablo, she said, because “he didn’t speak great English and he didn’t pick up sarcasm, wit, humor, intelligence, and I thought he had poor taste in women. He didn’t really prefer ‘the girl-next-door type’ but liked a bit of a feistier type of girl, and I think that’s a cultural thing.”

She said that many of the girls on the season had a hard time connecting with the bachelor and that she would sometimes get frustrated because of the type of girl he liked.

“He was just very hard to connect with, not just for me, but for many of the girls on my season,” she said. “It was hard to remain attracted to him when he liked girls like that, as well, so I started to struggle at some point in the season, but I didn’t really talk about that on camera. Instead, I still tried to build a connection with him and go for it. I think a different season would have been better suited for me, but what can you do?”

Solomon said the best part of doing the show was the friends she made from it and added that she hopes to keep Renne, Alli, Chelsie and a few of the other girls as life-long friends. She said her worst experience would be revealed by watching the show.

“The worst part of the experience is something a little silly I did that you’ll have to watch to see. Other than that, I have no regrets and had the time of my life. I got to do some really cool things,” she said.

The show aired Jan. 5, and the two-day premiere continues tonight at 8 p.m. Solomon will be the only contestant to not arrive by limo, as she instead chose to pull up to the mansion on a piano bicycle.

“Honestly, I’m thankful that I did the show mostly because it reminded me that my career belongs in television, but on a professional level,” she said. “I fell out of the broadcast world for a little while. I have a few potential opportunities already ahead of me, and the show hasn’t even started airing yet, so I’m hoping “Bachelor” will help in some way, although I don’t think it will have too much of an impact on my career in television.”

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