What happens when you’ve been rejected from The Bachelorette? Well, if you’re Nick Viall, you go on The Bachelorette to have your heart broken again, and then you go on Bachelor In Paradise, and then, and only then, you can be The Bachelor all by your lonesome. It’s a process, people. But now that he is done with an exciting year of doing The Bachelor and Dancing With Stars, what is Bachelor star Nick Viall doing in 2018? He’s gearing up to expand his career.
It was hard to tell which way Nick was going to go with his public life — after The Bachelor wrapped, he was cast on Dancing With The Stars, and after Dancing With The Stars, Nick could have easily gotten another show. He could have stayed with then-fiancée Vanessa Grimaldi (they split in the summer of 2017) and gone on some sort of marriage boot camp or therapy or fixer upper show. It would have been pretty easy to get some new television action. He could have also doubled down on selling teeth-whitening gear and Hello Fresh boxes on Instagram, but no. In fact, Nick told Entertainment Tonight that he would not be returning to non-scripted series life. "I have zero plans to do reality TV," he said. "I'm certainly done with anything Bachelor-related, but I'm very thankful for my time." Well, it’s nice to know that he knows where he came from, at least.
But no — Nick, instead, is edging to be a star of a different kind. Entertainment Tonight reported that Nick was taking acting lessons following his stint on Dancing With The Stars, and that the acting bug had bitten him hard. Former Bachelor Chris Soules said to Entertainment Tonight that Nick “loves being famous.” Is that a good thing or a bad thing? “He loves the spotlight, he really, truly does. If he wouldn't admit that, he's lying," Soules said. "I love the guy to death and there's nothing wrong with that."
Okey dokey. So Nick wants to be an actor. If that’s the case, he’s certainly heading in the right direction with it. He recently wrapped up a guest-starring spot on the ABC sitcom Speechless, in which he played a D-list actor playing a frat-tastic dean in a college sex comedy that JJ also had a role in.
He also had a minor role in the ION Christmas movie A Christmas Cruise. He played Bob, the hotel cruise manager, and he shared a few scenes with stars Vivica A. Fox and Kristoff St. John.
Nick also released a line of grooming products in 2017 called The Polished Gent, but since the website for the line now directs to a random placeholder website about how to get an agent in Hollywood, I will assume that the line went under (bummer). But perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise — if Nick is taking acting lessons, it means that he wants to be an actor. There’s nothing shameful about that, and if it’s his dream, he should go for it.
Nick’s had quite the year — he shared an Instagram post on Thanksgiving making note of “a year full of a lot of ups, some big downs, and unforgettable experiences.”
He found love and lost love, and that sucks. But maybe 2018 is meant for bigger things for Nick Viall. There’s no word on what his next starring role will be (only a thumbnail about a short film on IMDB called Brother). If he wants it, though, he’ll just have to keep working at it. The Gifted actress Jamie Chung, who got her start on the Real World, told Entertainment Tonight it could be tough as Nick starts out. "It was certainly an uphill battle. I do think that I was scrutinized a bit from casting directors when they discovered that I was on the Real World,” she said. “It certainly was something that I kept off of my resume. But in terms of other people trying to make that jump, I'm all for it. I don't think it's impossible. It just requires a lot of resilience."
Well, if it’s one thing Nick Viall has, it’s resilience — he was on a Bachelor show four times, after all. If Nick wants to be an actor, he’ll be an actor, and 2018 can hold nothing but good things for him.
