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It’s been nearly 10 years since Travis Kelce’s brief stint as a dating show bachelor, but he still remembers the 50 women who vied for his heart on Catching Kelce.
“A lot of people trying to make it big in ol’ Hollywood,” Kelce, 35, said of the 2016 dating show’s contestants during his Tuesday, July 1, appearance on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast. “They said 50 [women] from each state. It was more so like 50 from L.A. that can tell you they have a relative that lives in another state.”
On Catching Kelce, which aired on E!, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end dated 50 women — one from every state, according to the show’s description — as he searched for his soulmate. In the end, Kelce chose Maya Benberry, who was born in Germany but grew up in Kentucky. However, the pair broke up a few months after filming ended.
Kelce admitted on the podcast that the dating show was the “f***ing worst thing I ever did.”
“It didn’t set me up for anything,” he continued. “I didn’t realize what reality TV really was. And just what the experience was. … I don’t even think anybody watched it.”
Though Kelce said he was “having fun” at first, the realization that “everybody is going to be able to see this forever” quickly set in.
Catching Kelce wasn’t renewed for a second season, and the NFL star said that he realized “halfway through” filming season 1 that he would never want to do a dating show again.
“Even if they asked me to do it again, I would be like, ‘Hell no,’” he said.
Kelce, who has since dabbled in other TV projects, including a role in FX’s Grotesquerie and hosting Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, previously reflected on Catching Kelce in an October 2024 interview with People.
“I guess I learned how to kind of patiently wait on set,” he said. “I think that was probably the one thing I learned from Catching Kelce.”
Though Kelce didn’t find his soulmate on his dating show, he is now happily in love with girlfriend Taylor Swift. The pair met after the footballer attended the pop star’s Eras Tour concert in Kansas City, Missouri, in July 2023, and they went public with their romance that September.
Kelce spoke about his relationship on “Bussin’ With the Boys,” addressing rumors that he and Swift, 35, crave the spotlight.
“[We’re] having fun with it, man,” he said. “Being a couple, dude. You already know. It gets thrown out there, like, we’re trying to seek the attention every now and then.”
Kelce continued, “We’re just enjoying life and having fun.”
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The couple has recently been spotted spending time together in Florida, where Kelce rented a $20 million mansion to stay in while he trains for the upcoming NFL season.
A source exclusively told Us Weekly in early June that the Sunshine State was the “perfect escape” for Kelce and Swift as they step back from the public eye.
“They are making fewer public appearances together because [their relationship] brings too much unwanted attention,” the insider said before adding, “There isn’t trouble in paradise.”
English (US) ·