The Bachelor star Colton Underwood is sharing why he and girlfriend Cassie Randolph decided to live separately after dating on the show and falling in love.

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After The Bachelor wrapped filming on Season 23 last year, Colton moved from Denver, CO, to Los Angeles, CA, in order to be closer to Cassie.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)

Once the couple was able to go public with their relationship in March, Cassie then moved from Huntington Beach, CA, to be closer to Colton.

"I have a house north of Hollywood, and she is in West Hollywood right now. We are trying to do everything as normal as possible," Colton told Extra of life after The Bachelor while taking a break from enjoying the Coachella festival with Cassie.

"I don't think you realize how many important steps you sort of miss in The Bachelor process -- which is nothing against them -- but we want to make sure we do this the right way."

Colton is hopeful his relationship with Cassie will go all the way and the pair will eventually get engaged and married.

Looking back on The Bachelor's previous 22 seasons, there isn't a good track record of successful relationships given Sean Lowe, Jason Mesnick and Arie Luyendyk Jr. are the only former Bachelors still together with women from their respective seasons.

Sean is married with children to the winner of Season 17, Catherine Giudici, while Jason is married with children to his season's runner-up, Molly Malaney.

As for Arie, he also dumped the winner of Season 22, Becca Kufrin, to reconcile with his runner-up, Lauren Burnham, and now the couple is married and expecting their first child together.

"Statistically speaking, for Bachelors, it's not very good odds," Colton admitted to Extra, "so I think us going against what other Bachelor and Bachelorette couples have done is probably going to work out in our favor."

More The Bachelorette couples, however, have survived the show and actually wed than those from The Bachelor -- including Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter, Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum, and Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried. In addition, former The Bachelorette stars JoJo Fletcher and Rachel Lindsay also remain engaged to their respective final picks Jordan Rodgers and Bryan Abasolo.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Although Colton and Cassie's living situation makes it a little more difficult for them to spend time together, Colton insisted they'd never move in together just to save money or simplify things.

"We would never do something just to save money or go with the flow. I mean, right now, we want to do what is best for our relationship," Colton shared.

"We both feel like [doing] our thing and living our separate lives, but still coming together at the end of the day, is what's most important for us, and what's the right step for where we're at in our relationship."

Colton previously told Entertainment Tonight he envisions proposing marriage to Cassie within the next year, but for right now, they are taking things slow and feel no need to rush their romance.

"You have conversations that's sort of what's next, where is our life going. But right now we're enjoying dating," Colton told Extra.

"We're enjoying getting to know each other more, and we're really beginning to find more out about each other. I think that's very important for our relationship."

Colton ended his The Bachelor journey by selecting Cassie when two other women, Tayshia Adams and Hannah Godwin, were still in the running for his heart.

But when Colton professed his love for Cassie before the Fantasy Suite portion of their date in Portugal, Cassie determined she needed to quit the show because she didn't reciprocate such strong feelings yet.

Cassie also felt she wasn't ready to accept a marriage proposal from Colton and wanted him to leave the process with the happy ending he had hoped for.

Colton, however, refused to give up, and after dumping both Tayshia and Hannah G. in Portugal, he begged Cassie to simply give him a chance and date him -- with no expectations of an engagement.

Cassie obliged and then traveled to Spain to meet Colton's family while cameras were still rolling. Once the show ended, Cassie slowly fell in love with Colton in the real world.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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