Colton Underwood’s public life has never moved in a straight line. Before he became one of the most discussed reality TV figures of his generation, he was a Midwest athlete trying to turn a decorated college football career into an NFL future. Then came The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, the fence jump on The Bachelor, a very public relationship with Cassie Randolph, a serious legal controversy, his coming-out interview, a Netflix docuseries, marriage to Jordan C. Brown, fatherhood, and a chaotic run on The Traitors Season 4.
That is a lot of reinvention for one public figure. It is also why Underwood remains such a complicated pop-culture subject: part former athlete, part reality-TV main character, part LGBTQ public figure, part cautionary example of what fame can expose when a personal life becomes franchise content.
For more reality-TV profiles and franchise updates, visit OpenThreadNews’ Reality TV coverage and our full The Traitors Season 4 cast guide.
Who Is Colton Underwood?
Colton Scott Underwood is an American former football player, reality television personality, author, husband and father. He first became known as a contestant on Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette in 2018, before appearing on Bachelor in Paradise and becoming the lead of The Bachelor Season 23 in 2019.
He later made one of the most high-profile coming-out announcements in reality television history when he publicly came out as gay in April 2021. Since then, his public identity has shifted from Bachelor Nation star to LGBTQ figure, husband to political strategist Jordan C. Brown, father to son Bishop Colton Brown-Underwood, and, most recently, a Faithful player on The Traitors Season 4.
Colton Underwood Quick Facts
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Colton Scott Underwood |
| Date of Birth | January 26, 1992 |
| Age | 34 years old in 2026 |
| Birthplace | Indianapolis, Indiana, USA |
| Raised In | Washington, Illinois |
| Nationality | American |
| Height | About 6 ft 3 in |
| College | Illinois State University |
| Football Position | Defensive end / linebacker |
| Known For | The Bachelor, coming out publicly, Coming Out Colton, The Traitors |
| Husband | Jordan C. Brown |
| Child | Bishop Colton Brown-Underwood |
| Book | The First Time |
| Foundation | Colton Underwood Legacy Foundation |
Early Life and Athletic Family Background
Colton Underwood was born on January 26, 1992, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was raised primarily in Washington, Illinois. Athletics were part of his life from the beginning. His father, Scott Underwood, played football at Illinois State University, while his mother, Donna Underwood, played volleyball there. Colton’s younger brother, Connor Underwood, also grew up inside that same competitive family environment.
Underwood attended Washington Community High School, the same school his father had attended, and graduated in 2010. By then, football had become his clearest path forward. The sport gave him structure, visibility and a sense of identity before reality television ever entered the picture.
That athletic background still matters to his story. Underwood’s later public image — the clean-cut football player, the “good guy” Bachelor lead, the man struggling privately with sexuality while performing a very traditional version of masculinity — was built on the contrast between what audiences saw and what he later said he was experiencing internally.
College Football at Illinois State
Underwood followed his parents’ path to Illinois State University, where he played defensive end for the Illinois State Redbirds. His college football career was productive and genuinely substantial: he appeared in 45 games and recorded 215 tackles, becoming one of the program’s standout defensive players of his era.
He was not just a roster name. Underwood built a strong defensive reputation at Illinois State, ranking highly in career tackles-for-loss and sacks after his senior season. His performance helped position him as a serious post-college football prospect, even if his route to the NFL was never going to be easy.
For readers following celebrity careers before fame, Underwood’s pre-TV years are a reminder that his reality persona did not come out of nowhere. Before Bachelor Nation, he had already spent years in competitive, high-pressure spaces where image, discipline and toughness were part of daily life.
Did Colton Underwood Play in the NFL?
Colton Underwood signed with the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in May 2014 after the NFL Draft. He later spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders, mostly through practice squads and offseason roster opportunities.
However, Underwood never appeared in a regular-season NFL game. That distinction matters. He was part of the NFL system, trained with professional teams and carried the label of a former football player, but his professional career never became a long-term active-roster run.
By 2016, his football opportunities had largely ended. The combination of roster competition, injuries and the reality of practice-squad limits pushed him toward a different public path. That next phase started with philanthropy and then turned into full-scale reality television.
Colton Underwood Legacy Foundation
Before he became a franchise face on The Bachelor, Underwood founded the Colton Underwood Legacy Foundation. The foundation was inspired by his cousin Harper, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and focused on raising awareness, supporting research and helping people living with the condition.
The foundation became part of his early public image: athletic, charitable, family-oriented and driven by a personal cause. That version of Underwood helped make him appealing to Bachelor Nation producers and viewers when he entered the reality-TV world.
The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise and the Start of Reality Fame
Underwood joined Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette in 2018. His football background, charity work and emotional openness quickly made him one of the more memorable men in the cast. His virginity also became a major storyline — one that would follow him far beyond that season.
After The Bachelorette, he appeared on Bachelor in Paradise Season 5, where his relationship with Tia Booth continued to keep him inside the franchise conversation. The relationship did not last, but the screen time did exactly what reality television is designed to do: it made him familiar enough to become a lead.
By the end of 2018, Underwood had become one of Bachelor Nation’s most marketable personalities. For more franchise coverage, see OpenThreadNews’ The Bachelor archive.
The Bachelor Season 23 and the Fence Jump
Colton Underwood became the lead of The Bachelor Season 23 in 2019. His season was marketed heavily around his virginity, a framing that became both a ratings hook and, in hindsight, one of the more uncomfortable pieces of his public story.
The defining moment of the season came when Cassie Randolph, the contestant he wanted to choose, decided to leave. Underwood responded by jumping a fence, briefly leaving production and rejecting the standard Bachelor ending. Instead of continuing with the remaining women, he pursued Cassie.
The season ended without an engagement. Underwood and Randolph left as a couple, not as fiancés. At the time, the ending was treated as romantic, dramatic and unconventional. Later, after their breakup and the legal controversy that followed, the story became much more complicated.
Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph
Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph dated publicly after The Bachelor and split in May 2020. Their breakup soon became the most serious controversy of Underwood’s public career.
In September 2020, Randolph was granted a temporary restraining order against Underwood. Her allegations included harassing messages, unwanted contact, repeated visits to her parents’ home and allegedly placing a tracking device on her vehicle. A judge ordered Underwood to stay at least 100 yards away from Randolph, her home and her workplace.
In November 2020, Randolph requested that the order be dismissed after the two reached what Underwood described as a private agreement. The dismissal did not mean there was a public legal finding that the allegations were false. The matter ended without a public trial, but it remained a major part of how audiences and media outlets discussed Underwood’s later career.
Any biography of Colton Underwood has to include this period carefully. It was not a side note. It shaped the public reaction to his next chapter, especially when he came out and later released a Netflix series about that experience.
Coming Out Publicly in 2021
On April 14, 2021, Colton Underwood came out as gay during an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. The moment was historic for Bachelor Nation: he became the first former lead of The Bachelor to publicly come out as gay.
In the interview, Underwood spoke about self-acceptance, shame, mental health and the difficulty of living publicly while hiding his sexuality. He also apologized to people he had hurt, including Cassie Randolph.
The reaction was layered. Many viewers recognized the importance of a former Bachelor lead coming out, especially given the franchise’s long history of promoting traditional heterosexual romance. Others criticized the timing, arguing that his coming-out narrative risked softening or redirecting attention from the allegations Randolph had made months earlier.
That tension has followed Underwood ever since. His story is significant for LGBTQ visibility, but it is also inseparable from the public accountability questions that came before it.
Coming Out Colton on Netflix
Later in 2021, Underwood’s Netflix docuseries Coming Out Colton followed his life as a newly out gay man. The series focused on therapy, family conversations, LGBTQ community support, faith, identity and dating after coming out.
The reception was mixed. Some viewers saw value in the visibility and the honest conversations around sexuality, religion and sports culture. Others felt the series arrived too soon after the Cassie Randolph controversy and did not do enough to address the harm alleged in that chapter.
That mixed response is central to Underwood’s media identity. He is often discussed as both a symbol of representation and a reality-TV figure whose public redemption arc has been questioned.
Colton Underwood’s Book: The First Time
Underwood published his memoir, The First Time: Finding Myself and Looking for Love on Reality TV, in 2020. The book covered his childhood, football career, Bachelor Nation experience, relationships and public persona.
At the time of release, the memoir fit neatly into his Bachelor-era brand. In later years, after his coming out and public reflections on the pressure of the “virgin Bachelor” label, the book became part of a broader conversation about how reality TV packages identity, intimacy and personal struggle into marketable storylines.
Marriage to Jordan C. Brown
After coming out, Underwood began a relationship with political strategist Jordan C. Brown. The couple got engaged in 2022 and married on May 13, 2023, at Carneros Resort and Spa in Napa Valley.
Their wedding was widely discussed because of its meaning within Underwood’s personal and public timeline. The couple has described the event as the first queer wedding many of their roughly 200 guests had attended, making it not just a celebrity wedding but a symbolic moment for their families and communities.
For OpenThreadNews readers interested in how celebrity weddings intersect with identity, image and culture, Underwood and Brown’s wedding sits at the center of a much larger conversation about queer visibility in mainstream entertainment.
Fatherhood and Life With Son Bishop
Colton Underwood and Jordan C. Brown welcomed their son, Bishop Colton Brown-Underwood, on September 26, 2024, via surrogacy. Since then, fatherhood has become one of the biggest themes in Underwood’s interviews and public appearances.
Underwood has spoken about the emotional weight of becoming a parent after years of uncertainty around identity, family and self-acceptance. He has also shared lighter details about family life, including how date nights with Brown have shifted into quieter rituals like farmers’ market trips.
In his current public era, Underwood often appears less interested in being the perfect reality-TV lead and more focused on being seen as a husband, father and person who has tried to rebuild his life after public mistakes.
The Traitors Season 4: Colton Underwood as a Faithful
Colton Underwood joined The Traitors Season 4 as a Faithful, and his gameplay quickly made him one of the season’s most talked-about players. He played aggressively, questioned nearly everyone and pushed hard against castmates he believed could be Traitors.
That strategy made good television, but it also made him a target. In a game built on suspicion, Underwood entered with a public history that made every accusation feel heavier. He was not just another celebrity trying to read a room. He was someone whose life had already been defined by secrecy, revelation and public judgment.
His clash with Michael Rapaport became one of the season’s sharpest moments. Rapaport suggested at a Round Table that nobody would be better at “holding a secret” than Underwood, a comment many viewers and players interpreted as a reference to Underwood having kept his sexuality private during his Bachelor years.
Underwood survived that vote, but he did not make it to the end. He was murdered in Episode 8, with the Traitors’ decision tied to the shifting power dynamics between Rob Rausch, Candiace Dillard Bassett and Lisa Rinna.
For the full season breakdown, read OpenThreadNews’ The Traitors Season 4 cast guide and our ongoing The Traitors coverage.
Why Colton Underwood Remains Complicated Public Figure
Colton Underwood’s biography is not a simple celebrity glow-up story. It is a public image transformation with unresolved tension built into it.
He started as an athlete. Then he became a Bachelor Nation heartthrob. Then he became the center of a serious legal controversy. Then he came out. Then he became a husband, father, LGBTQ public figure and reality-TV competitor again.
That evolution is why coverage of Underwood often feels divided. Supporters point to growth, self-acceptance, advocacy and family life. Critics point to the Cassie Randolph allegations, the timing of Coming Out Colton and the way reality TV can convert personal accountability into another media chapter.
Both realities are part of the record. Underwood’s story is about visibility, but it is also about the cost of being publicly packaged before a person has fully understood himself. It is about how reality television rewards emotional confession while rarely giving its subjects the space to deal privately with what those confessions mean.
Public Image Timeline
| Year | Event |
| 1992 | Born in Indianapolis, Indiana |
| 2010 | Graduated from Washington Community High School |
| 2010–2013 | Played football at Illinois State University |
| 2014 | Signed with the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent |
| 2014–2016 | Spent time with the Chargers, Eagles and Raiders systems |
| 2018 | Appeared on The Bachelorette |
| 2018 | Appeared on Bachelor in Paradise |
| 2019 | Became the lead of The Bachelor Season 23 |
| 2020 | Published The First Time |
| 2020 | Cassie Randolph obtained a temporary restraining order, later dismissed after a private agreement |
| 2021 | Came out publicly on Good Morning America |
| 2021 | Coming Out Colton premiered on Netflix |
| 2022 | Engaged to Jordan C. Brown |
| 2023 | Married Jordan C. Brown in Napa Valley |
| 2024 | Welcomed son Bishop Colton Brown-Underwood |
| 2026 | Competed on The Traitors Season 4 |
Where Is Colton Underwood Now?
As of 2026, Colton Underwood is living in his husband-and-father era while still appearing in the reality-TV and entertainment space. His public life now centers on family, LGBTQ visibility, mental health conversations, parenthood and selective television work.
His appearance on The Traitors showed that he is still willing to step back into messy reality-TV spaces, even when the reaction becomes personal. But it also made clear that the audience has not forgotten the earlier chapters of his story.
That is what makes Underwood such a uniquely modern reality-TV figure. He is not just known for one show, one scandal or one coming-out interview. He is known for the way all of those chapters sit together — sometimes uneasily — in a public life that has been watched, judged, challenged and rewritten in real time.
FAQs About Colton Underwood
How old is Colton Underwood?
Colton Underwood was born on January 26, 1992. He is 34 years old in 2026.
Who is Colton Underwood’s husband?
Colton Underwood is married to Jordan C. Brown, a political strategist. The couple married on May 13, 2023, in Napa Valley.
Does Colton Underwood have children?
Yes. Colton Underwood and Jordan C. Brown welcomed their son, Bishop Colton Brown-Underwood, on September 26, 2024.
What season of The Bachelor was Colton Underwood on?
Colton Underwood was the lead of The Bachelor Season 23, which aired in 2019.
Did Colton Underwood play in the NFL?
Underwood signed with the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent and later spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders systems, but he never played in a regular-season NFL game.
When did Colton Underwood come out?
Colton Underwood publicly came out as gay in April 2021 during an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America.
What happened with Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph?
Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph dated after The Bachelor and split in May 2020. In September 2020, Randolph was granted a temporary restraining order against him after making allegations that included unwanted contact and an alleged tracking device on her car. The order was later dismissed at her request after a private agreement. There was no public trial.
Was Colton Underwood a Traitor on The Traitors?
No. Colton Underwood played as a Faithful on The Traitors Season 4. He was murdered in Episode 8.
What is Colton Underwood known for now?
Today, Colton Underwood is known for his reality-TV career, his public coming-out story, his marriage to Jordan C. Brown, fatherhood, LGBTQ advocacy and his appearance on The Traitors Season 4.
