During episode 8 of The Bachelor season 28, fans of the franchise finally got to meet Kelsey Anderson‘s father during her hometown date in New Orleans, Louisiana.
She’d spent the season gushing to Joey Graziadei about how amazing of a man her father is (he lost the love of his life and became a single father after she unexpectedly passed away) and when he finally made his way to our screens, Mark Anderson did not disappoint. In fact, he became an instant celebrity amongst Bachelor Nation, charming everyone with his good looks and inspiring a variety of excited comments:
“‘A man deserving of Kelsey is one that she picks’ Kelsey’s dad 😭😭 #TheBachelor”
“#TheBachelor Kelsey’s dad is fineeee”
“Kelsey’s dad, it’s 15 minutes in I can’t be crying yet 😭 #TheBachelor #Bachelor”
“Kelsey’s dad is kinda gorgeous #TheBachelor”
“Kelsey going ‘I think I love him’ and her dad going ‘I love you’ #TheBachelor”
With fans of the franchise arguing that he should serve as the next Golden Bachelor ⏤ especially given that he shares a similar storyline with inaugural Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner ⏤ the affinity toward Mark began as rather harmless. However, it quickly took a turn into NSFW territory, with dozens of thirst traps surfacing on TikTok in the hours after the hometowns episode aired. Kelsey ultimately took to the platform to address everyone’s obsession with her father, begging for “no more ‘Sexyy Red’ edits.”
“I just would like to thank everyone for all the nightmares that I will have tonight in regards to the posts y’all have made about my dad. It is frightful indeed,” she prefaced, prior to sharing some of said posts set to songs like “SkeeYee.” “Why are there thirst traps of my father on TikTok? I don’t even have thirst traps y’all… I’m scarred,” she exclaimed afterwards, prior to the realization that social media can be the perfect way for her to find her father a significant other, either as the Golden Bachelor or beyond.
“No but seriously, I feel like I need to make my dad like a business email for all of these people trying to set him up with like their mom, their sister, their aunt, their niece, themselves. Marky mark for Golden Bachelor? Like, come on. Can they just do that? I don’t know. I feel like if we riot. Should we riot? I’ll riot.”
Kelsey, we will riot with you. Marky Mark for Golden Bachelor!
While we wait and see whether or not Kelsey’s dad ends up cuffed after his newfound social media stardom, to see if Kelsey and Joey are in it for the long haul, catch brand new episodes of The Bachelor season 28 every Monday evening on ABC. With the finale on the horizon, the competition is definitely heating up.