Nick Viall wants the world to know he's ready to have a wife but never set out to please or prove anything to anyone on The Bachelor.

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"I'm ready to shed the controversial image," Viall told People ahead of The Bachelor's Season 21 premiere January 2 on ABC. "And I'm ready to get married."

Some The Bachelor fans are skeptical of Viall's intentions since he has already appeared on three reality TV dating spinoffs, but the 36-year-old software salesman assured the magazine, "I'm not going to change who I am."

"I'm fully aware of the overall perception of me," he noted. "I hope people like me. But that isn't my goal going into this."

The Wisconsin native first competed on Andi Dorfman's season of The Bachelorette, and after finishing as the runner-up, announced on After the Final Rose the couple had sex in the Fantasy Suite. (Winner Josh Murray was waiting backstage for his first public appearance with his then-fiancee, Dorfman).

After becoming a controversial figure, Viall went on to fight for Kaitlyn Bristowe's heart on the subsequent eleventh season of The Bachelorette. Viall got slapped with accusations he was appearing on the show again for the "wrong reasons." It also didn't help he expected to join the show without having to endure the excruciating first Rose Ceremony as well as a couple embarrassing group dates.

"I was fully aware of what coming on late would do," admitted Viall, who angered his fellow suitors with his not-so-fashionably-late arrival.

Viall then memorably had sex with Bristowe mid-season on The Bachelorette during their first one-on-one date in Ireland. He was pretty much hated by Bristowe's now-fiance Shawn Booth and finished as a runner-up once more.

"I never came on the show to change anyone's opinion," Viall said of his second Bachelorette stint. "I was following my heart. And it's important for people to know that I'm always going to be who I am, for better or worse."

Viall confessed to People, "It's a winless battle to try to be liked by all. If you're going to be interesting, you're not going to be loved by everyone."

Viall's third shot at finding a future wife on reality TV was Season 3 of Bachelor in Paradise this past summer. Although he developed a serious relationship with Jennifer Saviano, he failed to fall in love and dumped her at the Final Rose Ceremony.

Briefly after Bachelor in Paradise finished airing in late August, producers decided to make Viall the next The Bachelor star.

"I'm excited that people seem to really care what happens to me," Viall said. "That's very humbling, but I wasn't trying to prove anything. If I was, I probably would have done things differently before and made life easier on myself! I want to give people what they want but not at the risk of making a poor decision."


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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