Peter Kraus has revealed he's "very happy" and even thinking about dating again, but he apparently hit an all-time low after filming The Bachelorette starring Rachel Lindsay.
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"It all just ended so fast," Peter told Us Weekly of his The Bachelorette relationship on Season 13. "It was just me, sitting there by myself in my own thoughts. That was a really dark couple of days. When you have no outlets, it's hard to get out of your head."
Peter, a 31-year-old personal trainer and business owner from Wisconsin, left The Bachelorette absolutely devastated. While he fell hard for Rachel and said he loved her, Peter just couldn't wrap his head around the idea of proposing marriage after dating the Dallas attorney for such a short period of time.
Rachel seemed head over heels for Peter in return, but because of his reluctance to pop the question and her refusal to leave the show with just a boyfriend, she let him go with tears streaming down her face and ended up choosing Bryan Abasolo, her current fiance.
"I got into my head a fair amount. I allowed myself to pull back a little bit as opposed to being fully engulfed in the setting," Peter explained of his behavior on The Bachelorette.
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"I think she could sense that. I always question things, and usually with time, those questions can be answered. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time. And so those questions kind of always remained."
And once he got home from filming, Peter didn't exactly bounce back quickly.
"Friends would ask me like, 'C'mon, just tell me. Are you with her or not? Are you guys happy?' and I couldn't say anything. I wanted to say something so bad. So I really felt alone. That's when I really started to feel isolated. There was no one I could talk to," Peter explained.
"Not even my parents about it because they didn't understand the emotions I was feeling, like, 'Peter, you're fine. It's over. It's cool. You're good.' I'm like, 'No, it's not. You don't see the attacks on social media. You don't see the questions I'm being asked every day. You don't see the people coming up to me, like, oh my God, you're the guy that she's with! Happy! You're so great! and having to fake that.'"
The Bachelor spoiler blogger known as Reality Steve, Steve Carbone, insisted in May when The Bachelorette debuted that Rachel chose Peter at the end of her journey to find love and they were happily engaged. It was all fans could talk about for weeks until Carbone corrected his spoilers in June to say that Bryan -- not Peter -- had actually won Rachel's heart.
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Peter admitted to Us that the breakup was so painful he couldn't even watch the last couple of episodes of The Bachelorette's thirteenth season on television.
Several weeks after the show wrapped, ABC approached Peter about starring on The Bachelor's upcoming 22nd season in 2018 since he was a fan-favorite.
Peter, however, admitted he wasn't ready for the big opportunity and responsibility, and so Arie Luyendyk Jr. from Emily Maynard's eighth edition of The Bachelorette was selected for the role.
Instead, Peter will be appearing on the network's first-ever The Bachelor Winter Games spinoff.
"I'm very happy," Peter told Us about his current situation.
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"I'm building my businesses. Worth Personal Training is my home business; Peter Kraus Fitness is my national business. We do traveling boot camps. We want to help develop a fitness following. I'm hoping to team up with local charities. Boys & Girls Club is amazing. They've really helped a lot."
When asked whether he's ready to date again, Peter replied, "It's been a constant thought in my mind. I'm going to keep thinking on it. I'm in no rush."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski