Washington Commanders practice-squad quarterback Sam Hartman will star as the lead on Season 30 of “The Bachelor,” ABC announced Friday, Nov. 13, on “Good Morning America.” The 27-year-old passer signed on for the reality dating series after initially rejecting the offer, changing his mind only after a conversation with host and former New York Giants quarterback Jesse Palmer.
Season 30 premieres Sunday, March 21, 2027, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streams the following day on Hulu, according to the Washington Commanders. Sports Illustrated reported that the Sunday broadcast moves the show out of its traditional Monday night slot. The premiere also ends a franchise hiatus running since summer 2025’s “Bachelor in Paradise,” after ABC scrubbed its planned March 2026 season of “The Bachelorette” starring “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” cast member Taylor Frankie Paul amid domestic abuse allegations, according to the Associated Press.
How Jesse Palmer convinced Sam Hartman to lead The Bachelor
Walking out of an NFL quarterback room and into a mansion full of evening gowns and cameras was not initially on Hartman’s offseason bingo card. When producers first approached him, his reaction was an immediate refusal.
“Honestly, at first, I was like, ‘No way.’ I just think the connotation of it. I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ And then, I got really lucky and talked to Jesse Palmer, and he kind of gave me the insight and gave me what it is,” Hartman said on “Good Morning America,” as reported by TV Insider. USA Today attributed the shorter excerpt, “He kind of gave me the insight of what it is, what it’s not,” to the Commanders website, while Us Weekly and TV Insider reported that Hartman made the remarks live on “Good Morning America.”
Hartman flew back with the Commanders after their 24-21 Thursday Night Football win over the New York Giants on Nov. 12 before boarding another plane to New York for Friday morning’s television reveal, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported on “Good Morning Football” via On3. FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported that Hartman’s teammates spent the flight home offering him dating advice. Rapoport added that Season 30 will film early in 2027 during the NFL offseason, after Washington’s regular-season finale on Jan. 10, 2027.
“I’m excited but also very nervous,” Hartman said on “Good Morning America.” Managing a room of suitors on national television still looks daunting to the 6-foot-1, 209-pound backup. “I have a tough time holding conversation with one girl. Thirty is going to be pretty tough,” Hartman said.
Asked what he wants in a partner, Hartman told “Good Morning America” he is looking for “Competitiveness and somebody that I want to be able to chase. Not chase in a way that, ‘You haven’t texted me back in a week,’ but chase in a way that they have a drive for something and motivates me to wake up every day.” He also brushed off any skepticism about finding a spouse on reality television, saying on the broadcast, “When people are saying ‘I do,’ they don’t ask where you met; they just ask if you wanna do it forever.”
From Wake Forest and Notre Dame to the Commanders
Born July 29, 1999, in Charlotte, North Carolina, to orthopedic spinal surgeon Mark Hartman and labor and delivery nurse Lisa Hartman, the quarterback built a prolific college resume before entering the pros. Outlets differ on the exact length of his stint at Wake Forest: the Commanders website and FOX 13 Tampa Bay state he played four seasons there before transferring to Notre Dame, whereas ABC Audio, Sports Illustrated and The Sports Leader state he spent five seasons at Wake Forest from 2018 to 2022 before playing his final season at Notre Dame in 2023.
Across 60 college games, Hartman threw for 15,656 yards, 49 interceptions and an ACC-record 134 touchdown passes, the fourth-most in FBS history. In 2022 at Wake Forest, he was diagnosed with Paget-Schroetter syndrome, a rare condition that causes blood clots in a vein near the collarbone, before returning to the field that season and winning the ACC’s Brian Piccolo Award as the conference’s most courageous player, ABC Audio reported. He signed with Washington as an undrafted free agent in April 2024, wears No. 15 as the fourth quarterback on the Commanders’ depth chart, and has yet to play in an NFL regular-season game.
The casting drew immediate reactions across sports and reality television. Palmer joked on social media, “I just wish he was better looking,” while Commanders safety Jeremy Reaves wrote, “Ain’t no wayyyyyy,” Sports Illustrated reported. Former Wake Forest quarterback and “The Bachelorette” Season 15 runner-up Tyler Cameron celebrated the pick in a social media video reported by Bachelor Nation, saying, “We have our guy! We just landed Sam Hartman, Mr. Prince Charming himself. The best-looking guy in America. This is huge!” Former Bachelor Ben Higgins added, “So far I really like this decision,” Joey Graziadei wrote, “And we’re back,” and franchise alum Jason Tartick called it “the best decision that this franchise has ever made.”
Jesse Palmer set the NFL template in 2004
While former football players including Colton Underwood, Clayton Echard, Matt James and “The Golden Bachelor” Season 2 lead Mel Owens have starred in the franchise, Palmer was the first professional athlete to take the role while still on an active NFL roster. Drafted 125th overall in the fourth round by the Giants in 2001 after throwing for 3,755 yards and 31 touchdowns under Steve Spurrier at the University of Florida from 1997 to 2000, Palmer went 0-3 in his three NFL starts in 2003.
That spring, the Toronto-born quarterback led Season 5 of “The Bachelor” from April 7 to May 19, 2004, becoming the show’s first Canadian lead and, at 25, its youngest star to that point. Twenty-five women competed, and 13.07 million viewers watched the finale as Palmer chose 21-year-old Huntington Beach, California, law student Jessica Bowlin without proposing. They broke up within months. Palmer finished his NFL career with 63 completions on 120 passes for 562 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions across eight games before retiring in 2007 after brief stops with the San Francisco 49ers and the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes.
Palmer parlayed the reality stint into a 21-year broadcasting career at CSTV, Fox, ESPN, the SEC Network, “Good Morning America,” “DailyMailTV,” “Holiday Baking Championship” and “The Proposal.” He married Brazilian photographer and model Emely Fardo in 2020, and they welcomed a daughter in January 2024. USA Today reported that ABC named Palmer host of “The Bachelor” in September 2021 starting with Season 26 to replace Chris Harrison, while Us Weekly stated he took over hosting duties in 2022, when that season aired. Palmer has even survived a literal rising tide on the job: during Charity Lawson’s season of “The Bachelorette,” a storm pushed the tide over a secluded beach in Fiji before a rescue boat reached him, prompting Palmer to tell Parade, “I almost died in Fiji.”