Arie Luyendyk Jr. (“The Bachelor”) is a race car driver and TV personality, who chatted about his family and he shared his latest endeavors.
He is the son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk. He recalled his experiences on reality TV, race car driving, as well as being a part of the digital age.
‘The Bachelor’ experience
On his experience on “The Bachelor,” he remarked, “It was good. My whole life I’ve had a crazy ride. I used to race professionally and that didn’t turn out the way I wanted to.”
“Then, I went on ‘The Bachelorette’ and that was also random because it fell into my lap. Six years later, they chose me to be ‘The Bachelor’ and now I am living this great life with my wife and my three kids,” he said.
“The last few years have been really awesome. Now it has been hard to travel with three kids, but it has been awesome,” he added.
The digital age
On being a part of the digital age, he said, “It’s interesting. Before going on ‘The Bachelor,’ I never thought that we would be on social media the way that we are now. We haven’t done YouTube in a long time but that is something that we want to get back into.”
“We are working hard on keeping the peace at the house now. Social media is a really fun thing to document and to share our lives with people, and we’ve really enjoyed it,” he added.
Future plans
On his future plans, he shared, “Right now, we are leaving to go to Aruba for the first time, and that is so cool. We will be taking the entire family. Then, we head back to Arizona, and we are working on little projects with real estate.”
“Other than that, we are open to doing new shows. I would love to do a show with Lauren, so I am trying to figure out what that would look like,” he said.
Stage of his life
Regarding the title of the current chapter of his life, he said, “The dad chapter.”
“I have had the race car chapter, the realtor chapter, the TV chapter, and now the dad chapter, which I feel is the best chapter and the most rewarding one. It’s not about me, it’s about our little kids and shaping who they are, which is really cool. It is the best job ever,” he said.
Balancing fatherhood, family, and work
He is married to “The Bachelor” alumna Lauren Burnham Luyendyk, and they have three children.
On balancing a family life with work, he said, “I have a lot of help from my parents, and we have a great babysitter. We both work from home and that’s really important for our family.”
“We want to be around our kids because they can only be little for so long. We try to do everything together. I dedicate some time to working out and to work, but our main focus right now is hanging out with our kids,” he said.
Helping college students with ‘Fuel Ride to College’ initiative
He is excited to be partnering with Advance Auto Parts’ “Fuel Ride to College” program, which helps college freshmen. New data and stats from Atomik Research has revealed that 67 percent of college students cite gasoline for their automobile as being an expense that puts the most financial strain on them.
“I am partnering with Advance Auto Parts, where 10 lucky freshmen will get a ‘Fuel Ride to College,’ which is four years of free gasoline, and that’s pretty awesome. This is for the incoming Class of 2027, and it will allow them to win free gas for their whole college experience,” he elaborated.
“I support anything that gives back to people in need,” he said. “When I was young and going to college, I was really fortunate to have a good family that helped me with a lot of things, but paying for gas was still hard, and it could be hard for a lot of college students that are trying to make it.”
“I love it when companies do such things to help college students. It’s an awesome initiative,” he expressed.
Race car driver experience
“Auto racing was good,” he admitted. “High school was fun, and I got my first truck. I went to college to pursue a marketing degree, and when you are young, you are passionate about your car, and gas is everything.”
“They did a poll, which revealed that over two-thirds of college students are worried about their gas expenses, so this sweepstakes is pretty cool because it will help those 10 lucky college kids,” he said.
Career-defining moments
He noted that it has been the “high pressure” situations that have helped mold and define his career. “I feel like I’ve had a lot of high-pressure situations in my career. I began my career early and I raced in the Indy 500,” he said.
“I just so happened to land myself on ‘The Bachelorette’ and then on ‘The Bachelor,’ which were both high-pressure situations. Holding up to the pressure and not being able to get overwhelmed too easily have helped shaped who I am,” he explained.
Success
On his definition of the word success, he said, “Everyone has a different level of success. It is to be comfortable and to have time to do whatever you want. Success can be defined in many different ways, but if you are comfortable with how you are living, and you are not stressing about money, then you are successful.”
Fans
For his “Bachelor Nation” fans, he said, “Thank you. The people that follow our lives and are interested in what we are doing, are simply the best. Feeling all the love and support was really cool, especially to know that people really care about us.”
To learn more about Arie Luyendyk Jr., follow him on Instagram.
