Sometime in January, Sporting Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi received an odd email. He was allegedly a finalist to be the lead of a live edition of "The Bachelor," held in Kansas City on March 12.
Huh? Well, that's obviously some sort of fraudulent activity, he thought, before mindlessly deleting it and moving on with his day. Later that week, Rob Thomson, SKC's chief officer of communications, had an oddly-specific question for Salloi: We signed you up to be in the running for "The Bachelor." You haven't heard anything about this, have you?
Salloi then dug through the deleted folder of his email.
“I didn’t know about it," Salloi, 23, told MLSsoccer.com. "Our media team signed me up, so I got an email saying I was a finalist. I thought it was a scam."
As his teammates caught wind of what was brewing, Salloi didn't have much of a choice.
During the next round of selections, he had to sign some papers, send in a few pictures and take a video. Before long, Salloi became the lead of "The Bachelor Live on Stage" at Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland, a two-hour event with 10 women vying for his affection. Salloi will slowly whittle down the field to one lucky lady by the end of the night.
"I was nervous to do it [and] I was like, ‘What is this?’" Salloi said. "But the team was very excited and wanted me to do it, so I said, 'Why not, let’s do it.' I didn’t sign up for this – it was a surprise for me – but it’s funny for sure.
" ... I just want to meet some cool girls who want to open up about themselves. It’s mostly to have some fun. I hope they’re not going to take it too seriously and get mad at me if I don’t pick them. I’m not trying to find my wife."
He may have undersold how excited his teammates are, particularly youngsters Gianluca Busio and Jaylin Lindsey.
"Oh man," Lindsey said with a raised voice. "I’m 110 percent looking forward to the show. March 12 is going be a great day for me and everyone on the team. ... When the first possibility came out, I was giving him stick the entire time, like, ‘Yo, you might find a girl this time!’ He doesn’t really watch the show on ABC. I’m just trying to get him hyped up and a little scared. He better be ready for the worst and the best.”
Salloi isn't sure what to expect, though he does plan to watch a few episodes of "The Bachelor" to familiarize himself with the show. Lindsey, a huge fan of the show, is helping aside from the jokes.
“It’s going to be weird, because I’m on stage and there’ll be people watching as I meet 10 girls who I’ve never seen in my life," Salloi admitted. "I’ll be nervous at the beginning for sure, but then I’ll get comfortable. It’s going to be fine. I’ll try to be nice. I don’t want to be mean.”
This isn't the club's lone connection to the ABC reality TV series. Ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, "The Bachelor" wanted to make SKC right back Graham Zusi the franchise's lead for a season.
Salloi, though, may be better suited for this ordeal than his teammate.
“He’s a very confident guy, he’s a good friend," Lindsey said of Salloi. "He’s a good guy for this, it’ll be funny. It’s one of those experiences in your life where it could be real or not real. You don’t see something like this every day. This is an unforgettable experience for him and everyone watching. I think he’ll do pretty well.”
Salloi knows what he wants to ask the girls when he gets the chance, he said. Throughout the night, there will be dates, challenges and more, including crowd participation. Most of the squad will be there, eager to help.
“Daniel was all excited until they told him there’d be contests, that he’d have to dance on stage," Thomson said. "They tried to gloss over that. He was like, 'Woah, wait – what?' So the show’s at 8 pm, maybe we’ll partake as a team before for a couple beverages to loosen up his dance skills. I don’t know if it’ll be Hungarian polka or not, but we’ll see.”
Thomson added that the producers for the show asked "eight or nine times" over the course of the process to ensure Salloi wasn't married.
“Dating in Kansas City has been good and bad," Salloi said. "I’ve been enjoying it, there’s a lot of beautiful ladies out here. It’s been fun. This is not something I needed. I was doing fine, but it’ll be a cool experience. Why not? I’m young and can try it.”
Lindsey is a bit more optimistic about his chances.
"He’s a confident guy, he’s that perfect fit," Lindsey said. "It seems like something he’d almost sign up for to actually try to find either love or a girl. Let’s say he likes to pick up a lot of girls and chicks. I think this is the perfect fit for him. He’s driven and wants to succeed. It’s a funny thing. Hopefully he can pick up a girl to spend some time with and see where it goes.”
