Michael Allio left Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette to return home to his then four-year-old son James, but now he explains how he was better prepared to film Bachelor in Paradise. Michael, 38, lost his wife, Laura, to breast cancer in 2019 when she was only 33 years old. Now he is raising their son as a single dad.
Although Michael and Katie had a strong connection, he decided to leave The Bachelorette before his hometown date after a FaceTime call with James. James did not understand why Michael was gone and expressed that he thought it was because he didn’t want to see him anymore. Michael knew that his son needed him, so he went home. Fans respected and admired his decision, and thought that Michael leaving was the right thing to do.
In an interview with ET, Michael opened up about how he and James, now six, were better prepared for him to leave to film Bachelor in Paradise. He said that this was because “we’ve had some history of doing this in the past.” He explained that James went on a trip too, saying, “He’s with my parents and my in-laws, and they came to him with this vacation package while I was gone. When I told him I was going away, he was like, ‘I’m going to have so much more fun than you.’ And I’m like, ‘Little do you know.'” Michael went on to say that James was “in good hands” and that he would never have left if he felt that his son “wasn’t in a good place.”
Michael shared that, after he left The Bachelorette, he took a break from dating because “it took me a decent amount of time to reset and get back to a mental state where I could be my best self.” Michael explained that he made the decision to join Bachelor in Paradise to work on “investing in myself. I think a lot of parents, they have a tendency to lose themselves in the role of being a parent and you forget that they’re humans too. That have their own needs, that they are their own person.” He added that while it would be hard to be away from James, he thought that taking three weeks out of the year was “a necessary investment and I think it’ll turn out to be good.”
He said that appearing on Bachelor in Paradise was not “in the cards whatsoever,” but he liked the idea that he could make connections with multiple people in a setting that gave him a lot more time to get to know them. The BIP contestant confessed that dating as a single dad is “really challenging, not just the logistics, but, I mean, at 8:30 my son’s in bed and if I were to go on 10 first dates, that’s 10 days away.” He said that he was focused on getting to know people while he was in Mexico, and hopefully walking away “with someone I can spend the rest of my life with.”
Michael was a genuine person on The Bachelorette, who always put his son first. He was respectful and mature, and it will be interesting to see how he fares in Paradise. Bachelor in Paradise is known for its drama, but some real relationships have formed there as well, with some leading to marriage and children. Hopefully, Michael will find what he is looking for.
Bachelor in Paradise premieres Tuesday, September 27 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
