The Bachelor alum Colton Underwood has apparently been chomping at the bit to get back on reality television following three appearances on The Bachelor franchise, and he says he won't have to wait much longer.

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"I have a couple projects that I'm working on that are really cool, but I will say this. The next project I'll do, I'll have a little more control of as far as what my purpose is and making sure the show itself is purposeful," Colton, 28, said during a Tuesday Chat4Good panel, according to Us Weekly.

"I'm very, very excited about that. Sooner rather than later, you'll see what I'm talking about. I can't get into it quite yet but I'm definitely not stepping away completely out of TV."

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Colton got his start on The Bachelor franchise when he competed for Becca Kufrin's heart on The Bachelorette's fourteenth season in 2018 and finished in fourth place.

Colton subsequently appeared on Season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise, when he tried to revive a romance with Tia Booth, but he ultimately found love with Cassie Randolph on The Bachelor's 23rd season last year.

Colton and Cassie were together for about 18 months before they announced their split on May 29.

Not long before Colton and Cassie parted ways, Colton dished on the March 31 episode of Us's "Here for the Right Reasons" podcast about how he and Cassie were definitely "up for" starring on another reality show together.

"We've both talked about that and we're very hopeful that something might happen," Colton shared at the time.

"We don't know, but we're definitely onboard with it. I understand the risks involved... but we both like and enjoy being on-camera. I don't see anything wrong with saying that. We like opening up when we can and when we feel it's appropriate, so we wouldn't mind it."

Colton was recently linked to Pretty Little Liars actress Lucy Hale, but their casual hiking trips and dates apparently didn't turn into anything serious.

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"I would consider myself single right now. I'm happily single," Colton reportedly revealed at the panel.

"My next relationship I'm already in and that's with myself. I've decided that I want to spend my energy and focus on all my attention on myself, which I'm actually weirdly loving. It sounds so crazy [and] so weird."

Colton also shared what he's looking for in his next partner.

"I don't want to say my exes weren't this, but I just want somebody who complements and fits into my life seamlessly," Colton explained, according to the magazine.

"I think that's something that I'm going to be looking for, and I don't want to feel like it has to be forced or set up or feel like we have to compromise too much."

"I think, while compromising is very important in a relationship," he added, "it's something that you can only take so much of."

When Colton and Cassie announced their breakup in May, the pair had apparently agreed to remain friends and keep their breakup private, but the peace didn't last long.

The pair's split got ugly after Cassie conducted a July 6 interview with The Bachelor host Chris Harrison on The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons -- Ever! and Colton subsequently slammed her in a passive-aggressive manner.

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"When our relationship ended we agreed to handle things as privately as possible as we attempted to navigate our new relationship as friends," Colton wrote three days after The Bachelor special aired, although Cassie declined to reveal any details regarding her split from Colton on TV.

"I chose to do that since we were living in this interim period, but obviously a lot changed this week."

Cassie therefore fired back on social media with some insulting allegations against the former pro football player, and she asked him to refrain from "prolonging our breakup or dragging me" when it's "unwarranted."

"Colton, your last Instagram post saddened me, but also left me frustrated. It seems you are subtly engaging in a tactic that peppers in passive aggressive comments such as 'that obviously changed this week' in order to make me look like the bad one," Cassie wrote in her Instagram Stories.

"I would like to place on public record & ask you politely to refrain from discussing our relationship, as we agreed. You informed me you intend to monetize our breakup by writing a new chapter to discuss your experience with COVID (where you stayed in my family's house during your recovery) & about our break up."

Cassie added at the time, "You have also refused to give me any sort of approval on the chapter that you will be writing, which will heavily feature me... This seems a bit unfair to me. Colton, you can do what you want, but please do not have a double standard."

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Colton, however, denied Cassie's claims he had planned to profit off their breakup while expecting Cassie to keep quiet and maintain privacy.

Colton's representative gave Us the following statement on July 10 about Cassie: "Her accusations are simply not true."

In terms of why Colton and Cassie split, Cassie reportedly initiated the conversation and a source told E! News in early June, "Cassie was just not as ready for the settled-down life Colton wants right now and she tried to end it a few times."

A People insider shared a similar explanation for what went wrong, saying Cassie wasn't ready to get married and the pair had essentially just become friends.

Prior to their surprising decision to part ways, Colton had publicly discussed wanting to propose marriage to Cassie in the near future.

"We have decided we're not moving in together until we're married. So we have something to look forward to in that step," Colton said on the March 31 episode of "Here for the Right Reasons" podcast, adding that Cassie has been extremely busy with work and school.

"She still has her internship and some time to put into that and it takes a lot of work for her to do that and takes a lot of her energy and focus. I can't imagine having to plan for a wedding and we still don't want a long engagement. So we want to make sure that timing-wise it's all right."

When Colton starred on The Bachelor, his season ended prematurely when he fell in love with and selected Cassie over his other two remaining bachelorettes, Tayshia Adams and Hannah Godwin.

Colton had made up his mind before even finishing out his round of overnight Fantasy Suite dates.

However, Cassie attempted to quit The Bachelor at that stage in the process because she didn't feel ready to get engaged after dating Colton for such a short period of time.

Colton nearly ended production because he was so devastated, but he fought for Cassie to stay and ultimately convinced her to give him another chance.

Cassie was hesitant to continue but decided to stick around for Colton now that pressure of an engagement was off the table, and then she proceeded to meet his family on the show and fall in love with him once filming wrapped.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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