Actually talk to somebody whos gone through it all that right after this on Dennis Miller plus one. Hey folks welcome to Dennis Miller plus one and were doing it by remote star guest to join us today hes the bachelor star Colton Underwood colton 1st appeared on the franchise as a contestant on the bachelorette before becoming the bachelor myself for season 23 in 2019 colton has a new book out called the 1st time finding myself and looking for love on reality t. V. Currently available on line call number would call thanks for joining us. Now you for having me on i appreciate it. And then we can see your bald spot in a mirror behind you no im kidding i get it i know to figure out. Listen were all struggling with our hair right now i mean we can get our hair cut room but im here in my pajamas im not gonna lie to you. Im so theyre my pajamas from the waist listen i hear you. I hear you have the coronavirus know what stage are you do you clear a bit in the middle im here no im actually full recovery so i have antibodies now i have no more traces of the crown of iris in me other than the good stuff i guess you want to call it but i made a full recovery i have the medication to think to be honest with you and a good doctor out here that was on top of it so well tell me tell me but you know listen well im going to get to the book obviously because people everywhere look the show is everything with people shut in they love stuff like this they convince jon of yeah but lets talk about just the illness for a 2nd because youre like the canary in the coal mine when youve been there what did you 1st notice how long before tell me about getting out of it break it down for us called yeah. So men to be honest i started becoming symptomatic and i thought i just had the flu my body aches fever night sweats and i just assumed it was the flu i didnt it was so early on that i was like theres no way statistically speaking i think at the time there was like 30 cases in california 40 cases tested and i didnt think i had it. And one night i just woke up in the bed was completely wet i could barely catch my breath i panicked ordered oxygen boost those little cans off of amazon right 4 am because i was gasping for air. So i think in that moment i realized hey i need to probably take a test to see what i have so i can treat it and i called kathy called 2 doctors on my behalf and i got denied by both of them and then her mom stumbled upon a doctor in Orange County here that had tests and i drove down and took the test and 2 days later realize i tested positive. You know what its so theres a theres an interim weavings thing here where youre freaked out that you might have but theyre talking about how it affects your breathing hyperventilation happens when you get these things start to dovetail and the next thing you know youre trying to think and i have a trouble catching my breath because i have this dream i worried about it most of it scared the living hell out of you yeah that now is something i always kept in the back of my mind too i was like i am i just anxious and maybe maybe the symptoms are like phantom and im just thinking i have it it might be in my head but then i walk to the bathroom and i have to sit down to pee because i was so winded i think thats when i was like ok this isnt something to play around with. The other scariest part i think was just the unknown and the mixed messaging going on in the news and in the media is the reason why i spoke out publicly about it because at the time there was still spring breakers in florida on the beach my age and there was kids that were saying i dont care if i did its not going to affect me im sitting here barely being able to talk to my phone without catching my breath tell me about you know when when do you start coming out and whats it feel like do you come out as abruptly as you go in or no it is a lack. Of is about a 4 or 5 day lag after the medicines completely back to the health casting our parents and our whole family did an amazing job so i felt isolated on their 3rd bedroom floor and they would bring up food and water with gloves and masks on and drop it off and leave and i was up there for god and god knows how long probably way too long by myself but they stayed healthy they all tested negative. So its you know its a good thing that they did what they did to stay healthy what a long strange trip when you think about a cult that you would go on and its kind of a strange thing youre obviously a good looking guy youre bright you could be with him but you go out to t. V. Show im sure at the beginning its kind of a lark and then it turns out you did as well then but where did you end up with her with her parents and theyre bringing stuff up to the title or like your question moto its just an unbelievably strange trip those of you know what i know and the craziest part about it is we sort of been through something similar because theres a 4 month lag between the show and when we filmed it so for 4 months i keep my i keep my relationship secret and i dont let the public know that im with kathy so ive been in this position before where im like running around the house hiding and trying to like just stay locked down here and i cant go out for a walk i cant do anything so i sort of been through minor scale before so we were prepared for it a little bit. You know what they must literally scare the living hell out of you guys with a nondisclosure form because im always thinking what in gods name can they say to these people up front that would scare them to the point that they would literally go for months living this clandestine existence the lawyers just do with every possible contingency up front you know they talk to us about it for sure but i think theres also for me i dont know i had fun filming the t. V. Show i had i had fun looking at the ratings i had fun engaging the people who are in it for the entertainment i wanted to make my show really good you know i wanted the bastard to do really well so theres a part of me that wanted to like hide out and try to throw people off and you know sort of play the game. Play along just to wrap on your corn to negate youre not able to execute is where youre reading watching t. V. What were you doing well when i was at my when i was really really sick i was sleeping obviously 1516 hours a day to recover but for the most part i was Binge Watching t. V. Shows. But also like doing i mean sure i was catching up you know i made a lot of phone calls to a lot of people who i might not have talked to in the past just because i was busy so i got i got them to catch up with old friends and family. Well lets talk about the show and lets talk about the book and once again the book is the 1st time in the show is the bachelor i talk to christie seems like a i liked him harrisons name harris and he seems like a good super cool guy this thing is such a phenomenal honest to god my son watches a knowledge girl and years ago we used to watch it and just how because wed always try to do the beats of it it wasnt a drinking game its obviously mike yeah but wed say used by suggesting but shes about say journey we all had all these games with it but how long is a been on now its like survivor for gods sakes its been on so long right yeah i mean i was season 23 so its just to put things in perspective and i think thats where its on to the 15 or 16 now in paradise i mean its a year round thing a. B. C. Basically is at the bachelor show now are the bachelor networks because they have off work and they have a new singing show come out i think next week and theyve done a great job with the franchise and just expanding and really laying it all out before we get to the book and the book is the 1st time how does it come about like i guess they put ads up on the show and you call it you go in for interviews im just trying to figure how do you go from being a watcher of the bachelor to the bachelor i mean lock i guess whatever you want to call it for me it was interview and walking down 16th street mall in denver and they had an open casting call at a Hard Rock Cafe and i popped in and talked to some people and i was at a point my life where i had no clue what was going on what was next i was done playing football so why not you know lets lets try it lets do it lets have some fun. Well tell your brothers that were from denver i dont know your bag group i grew up denver noir but i grew up in illinois but i live the last 56 years before you know the whole show out in Colorado Tell me about your football journey im obviously fascinated about that yeah so for me i played football for 17 years grew up high school went to Illinois State university played my freshman sophomore engineer their. Pride and my role on the teams and had 2 outstanding allamerican teams and i dont i stay in one draft in 2014 to the chargers and then i got cut 3 different times to 3 different teams between the eagles and the raiders and i was just spinning my tires and i was realizing hey this isnt going to be a 1012 year career so i need to figure out whats next for me you know i was practice squad all 3 seasons and i took pride in it had a lot of had a lot of fun with my teammates but i just wasnt filling me any more you know just in that role while you know it was a necessary role for a team to have i just didnt find pride any more so when i got my final injury i decided it was time to sir pack up and not return boy you know when i watch the 24. 00 sevenths show each year you think boy they make good not only is it a brutal sport physically obviously but i cant believe how little fun some some of the coaches was that at some point youve got to come in there like gruden and have the knock knock thing or a few things to where you can have a light moment or it just turns into the boot camp yeah god sakes yeah i think john green obviously does a great job. I enjoyed my time through it but the Chargers Organization and stuff too but i was a little crazy. All right folks were going to talk to colton more after the break dig down on this book a little and the well like i said a genial chap right up to this more cold underwood on Dennis Miller plus one. This is a story about what happens auster a stray bullet kills a young girl in the streets. What happens to her family and daughters in florida know the mother daughter is buried in a cemetery in meaning this is with your head what happens to the community the public was screaming for a scapegoat the Police Needed a scapegoat so why not choose a 19 year old black kid with a criminal record who better to pin this on than him and what happens in court. Shot after shot as far. As i feel. We dont know childress froogle. End of this trial unfortunately you. Will still not know childress. Kobe 19 pandemic not only sees much of the world in lockdown but it is also devastation economies and demi has been painful recovery from it maybe even more painful is it all asians fault. Hey folks welcome back to Dennis Miller plus one colton tell us about the book give us the overview my friend. Yes i decided to dive in and write a book just get control back or feel like i had control back in my life and tell my story there so therapeutic so emotional to write. A book that covers a lot of different variety of topics from. Being bullied my high school in grade school. You know sort of experience and then through college and dealing through my parents divorce working through that working through my identity where i fit in what i liked and then dive into a little bit of that f. L. And then the bachelor experience and all my relationships whether its with god my parents my girlfriend i laid off there. Well ill tell you what brother he what you just just described his life you know i had my ass kicked daily in grade school you know. Its just it is a long strange trip was jerry garcia said are you a happy man been happy through all this because you know obviously people downturns in their life up turns well whats been your general demeanor over your life. Oh i would say confused frustrated and now im happy im very happy these last 2 years for may have been so good just in self discovery and you know really coming into my own skin i think having a little more confidence and being ok with just being named being different i dealt with a lot of insecurity as a lot of struggles growing up Just Computers been trying to fit into. Maybe a culture that i didnt really fit into but i lied and those lies compounded and then it became frustrating for me and i became depressed and anxious so i can say now im very happy but ive definitely definitely been through ups and downs well whats the pivot moment you mention god i saw when you were taking off what jeff dealings are to what you pivoted on gone or what did you pivot on yeah well so that i contribute that quite a bit to it i grew up and i i went to Catholic Grade School grew up in the church in a very conservative faith based family and then my when my parents separated i sort of went there a rough patch right stepped away from the church and sort of questioned you know why things are happening the way they were happening and i tell a story where when i was with the raiders i was going to write injured my shoulder and i was really lost at the time and a car reached out to me and said hey we have bible study if you want to cut your hot tub time little short come on come swing by and hang out and i did that and it really changed my perspective really changed my relationship with god and all the best ways and i from there on i had to lean on him half faith and that definitely helped in my road to sort of recovery of finding myself. Well good for derek and he seems like a good guy when i watched him on the shell its funny quarterbacks in the league have to put on that that they smile when theres a glint coming off their teeth they have to be super heroes but then you have all the pressure coming down on you his brother got hit every time he dropped back they that he was a Great Quarterback to get the hell kicked out of him im sure derek saw that its nice to know hes grounded and that good cat great did great dude and there is that that was a so cool about the locker room or at least part of my football experience was just meeting all different sorts of people from all walks of earth and its great it was a fun time. All right well tell me about cassie now i do like i said i i know the show like a anybody living in the United States those who show to a large degree that you must go on and think ok ill do the show and ill have fun with this and that. Must be a weird moment when you start to think im falling in love here i think. Ill always go to bat the franchise works the show works i really i really do believe in that and when you take the distractions away when youre filming it on your phone you dont talk to your family members you dont talk to your friends you literally have 2 and a half 3 months just to focus on that relationship so for sure works in that aspect and for me i always knew like going on i was going to have a fun time a fun experience and i fell in love like phone love and i always tell people we understand were making a peavy show but that doesnt take away from the fact that you can find love and you can build a relationship and economically be real too so im very very fortunate to be in a loving relationship with her and very very lucky because shes shes great and shes normal so thats the best part about it all is i didnt you know you are never know whether theyre going to finally be. Normal was a good box to check yeah because its some floyd youre back in the long run firework start up to go off every 3 seconds you need somebody you can look at in the bunker ago k. And trust box like get all the spurs right right. Tell me about the i think youve gone through all permutations of the vets and whats the 1st one you go on the bachelorette so youre one of the guys who is the gal and their deposit back to you and her get along and all yes if you have 14 back a season and yeah i think i left after that one realizing i had a lot of love for her to the great person i mean you spend that much time as much time that you spend that type of time with somebody youre naturally going to fall in love or fall fall to appreciate and love for them not to have an affair and then i went to bachelor in paradise which is their summer house because that was my personal hell it was not thats the one thats a horny addition. To the one yeah thats the one that not built for me believing that that and that and then yeah i had a shot to sort of call the shots in the bachelor and. I came out happy and i made the most hurt whats the worst part of the show called i think its a good rep for you seem like a good cat you fall in love i like the fact youre proud of it and think that its as good an incubus place for love theres anything is when you think about all the people over the world they have to meet somewhere at some time you know that theyre less whats the downside or some of the guys learn kids or whats the deal. I mean of course i think actually thats the cool part about it is you get once again its like the melting pot of what and and if the locker is going to be you get guys from all over the areas of different types of personalities that part fine. I think as far as a negative. I mean. I dont know i mean obviously if its a fine line between t. V. And entertainment history making a t. V. Show and then realizing its your life so that part sometimes can be challenging and where you draw the line. But you know there are so many positives to come out of it as well you know i grew as a person more than i ever thought i was going to as athletes were taught to have a hard shell exterior not let anybody enter not let people know that theyre getting to you and the bass are the exact opposite to let all your walls down and show everybody who you are and deal with it and thats what was sort of cool for me to go through you know what could i use this term loosely when i 1st got famous and like i said i used loosely i got all screwed up my head because i used to go out and then theres the human party just like so my god i was never go to by anybody have they had notice and then id feel guilty about. What a shallow person you are that that matters to you and then id have the other fight id say well what im just do you were being let me enjoy it a little and i had so many discussions in my head i spent half my daily fighting that fight for what felt right a job Something Like that. I mean there is always a part of me that of course in your twentys like to him this is cool like i could go anywhere i can do anything thats only fun opportunities coming my way of course there was that but i i have to thank my family and my friends for humbling me every single day and that same kathy to her friends and he