Jesse Palmer

The first athlete Bachelor — a backup quarterback for the New York Giants, mid-twenties, calmer on camera than the franchise had been used to. The casting leans toward women who can hold a conversation through a steak dinner, and the season plays more measured than the comic-relief run that preceded it. The mansion is still the mansion, the rose ceremonies still cathedral-lit. A competent middle-period entry that doesn't push the format but doesn't waste it either.