The Bachelor alum Peter Weber has revealed why he decided not to appear on Bachelor in Paradise's eighth season this year when he had apparently been very close to signing on.
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"I was actually going to do Bachelor in Paradise. I was going to do it. We just couldn't agree on a contract at the end of the day is what it came down to," Peter, 30, told Us Weekly of his contract with ABC.
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Peter revealed that "the deal was almost done" before he chose to pass on ABC's offer, which he appeared to suggest fell short of paying him what he was seeking to appear on the Bachelor in Paradise season.
"I had gotten the days off. I had this month off to go out there and I was going to give it a shot. I honestly was," the commercial pilot insisted.
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"I always kept looking at that as like the one [dating] venue I hadn't like really checked off yet or tried."
Peter failed to find lasting love on Hannah Brown's The Bachelorette season in 2019 as well as his own The Bachelor edition, Season 24 which aired in 2020.
But that wasn't going to stop him from searching for love on television one more time.
"I thought maybe [I could] give it one more try. But [ABC and I] ended up not being able to agree on anything and get out there. I feel everything happens for a reason, so it's all good," Peter said.
Peter admitted he had his eye on one woman in particular, although he declined to disclose her identity.
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"There was someone. I'm not going to spill those names, but there was someone down there. That was the only reason that I was actually curious [about] going down there," Peter shared, before hinting that a bachelorette from Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor had caught his attention.
While Peter seems excited to jump back into the dating pool, he said "there was a long period" of time -- that "kind of sucked" -- when he didn't feel ready for a relationship following his February 2021 split from The Bachelor alum Kelley Flanagan.
"I was in a weird mindset [after everything that had] gone on with me transpired," Peter confessed.
"I didn't want to put myself in that limelight that kind of naturally comes from being part of the franchise right now. I feel so good where I'm at [now]. I don't care if people talk. I really don't, [because] I'm going to do me."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
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Peter said if people like what he does, then great.
"If they don't, they don't. But I'm going to do what makes me happy. And that's it," Peter noted with conviction.
Production on Bachelor in Paradise's eighth season is currently underway, and the new season is set to premiere on Tuesday, September 27 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC and then air twice weekly through the Fall.
Peter had also contemplated joining the cast of Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season last summer, however, he had a work conflict.
"I think, for me, I would have had a better chance of a successful relationship in that kind of environment where you just get to focus on one person, not 30 -- with all the distractions that come with that. So that was the only reason my interest was kind of piqued," Peter told Us in October 2021.
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But he acknowledged the experience probably would've been "a little weird" and "crazy" at the same time.
Peter placed third on Hannah's The Bachelorette season before starring as the Bachelor in 2020.
Peter and Kelley briefly met at a wedding venue before The Bachelor's 24th season began airing, so they wondered if their relationship was destined, but Kelley ended up placing fifth on Peter's season because she had trouble opening up and being herself on-camera.
Peter proposed marriage to model Hannah Ann Sluss during his The Bachelor finale, but he broke up with her while his season was airing in January 2020.
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Peter proceeded to have a one-night fling with Hannah in February 2002 and then attempt to reconcile with his The Bachelor runner-up, Madison Prewett.
However, Peter and Madison's revived romance never really got off the ground when they talked about getting back together on his March 2020 After the Final Rose special.
Peter and Kelley then quarantined together In Chicago at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and went Instagram official in May 2020.
After eight months of dating, Kelley and Peter announced their split on New Year's Eve 2021.
However, the pair briefly reconciled and gave their relationship another shot, until Kelley and Peter's romance ended for good in mid-February 2021.
The former couple's relationship apparently ended "really badly," according to Kelley, who said during a May 2021 appearance on the "Chicks in the Office" podcast that she had told Peter to "get out of my life and lose my number" when they split.
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Kelley also insisted she'd "just run" from the children's book author -- whom she claimed has childlike-hobbies such as collecting Pokemon cards and playing video games -- if she ever bumped into him in the streets of New York.
Things turned nasty when Peter addressed Kelley's biting remarks during a May 2021 episode of his "Bachelors in the City" podcast, telling his listeners that Kelley seemed to be riding the fame wave and trying to push headlines with her "calculated and disingenuous" statements.
Kelley subsequently called Peter "extremely disrespectful" on social media, but she and "Pilot Pete" ultimately wished each other the best and moved on.
Kelley told Bryan Abasolo and Mike Johnson on a May episode of the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast that "a lot of little things" led to the demise of her romance with Peter.
"Peter and I had a lot of fun, but I don't know if, like, I looked up to him in a way that I wanted to look up to my spouse," Kelley explained.
Kelley suggested that dating Peter was all fun and games and she wished she could confide in him more or turn to him for some sound advice.
"Peter is smart, but I don't know. I think I just need someone who is a little more serious-natured," Kelley concluded.
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