Where Is He Now? An Update on Jeremy Anderson, Lawyer Turned Bachelorette Contestant

Where do lawyers turned reality TV contestants go? After their television careers, they take different paths.

Some return to their law firms. E.g., Charlie Herschel (Survivor / Weil Gotshal); Denise Gitsham (The Bachelor / K&L Gates); and Stacy Rotner (The Apprentice / Sidley). Some stay in the world of entertainment. E.g., David Otunga (engaged to Oscar-winning songstress Jennifer Hudson); Yul Kwon (Survivor winner, who then worked for CNN as a special correspondent).

And some have ups and downs. Remember Jeremy Anderson, the hottie from Hunton & Williams who competed for DeAnna Pappas’s hand on the latest season of The Bachelorette? Shortly after the show ended, his life wasn’t so glamorous. From a Texas tipster:

Jeremy, the runner-up from the Bachelorette, is working as a contract attorney upstairs at my firm [McKool Smith in Dallas]. Looks like Hunton Williams didn’t invite him back to the firm after the show ended. I heard about it because a bunch of the secretaries were going to the doc review floor to go check him out. I personally wasn’t about to make my way up there to stare at the guy.

Other indignities inflicted upon poor Jeremy (from a different reader, in mid-September):

I was at lunch today at Jason’s Deli in downtown Dallas with all of the other downtown workers. Well, all of a sudden, a familiar face walked in for a take-out order: Jeremy from the Bachelorette. My, how the mighty have fallen. From national TV to getting his own lunch.

And that wasn’t the end of it. Get this: Jeremy Anderson has been doing catalog modeling for JCPenney. And not just regular JC Penney, but the JC Penney outlet store.

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(No joke — we have photographic proof. The photos show that Jeremy, whose magnificent shirtless torso was featured prominently on The Bachelorette, has gained weight since leaving the show.)

But our hero’s tale has a happy ending. Read more, and check out the pictures — including the J.C. Penney catalog images — after the jump.


So here’s the happy ending: Jeremy Anderson has been rehired at Hunton. Here is the firm’s press release.

Perhaps his return to Hunton shouldn’t be a total surprise. He left the firm on good terms, and he kept in touch with his former colleagues. From a July interview that Jeremy did with Jenny Davis of Tex Parte:

Tex Parte: … I understand you had to quit your firm before you went on the show.

Jeremy: It was kind of a sticky situation. I did resign in the hopes of coming back once the finale aired. I do want to say that the firm was very supportive, I talk to people from the firm every day. I have grown to be close friends with several of the junior and senior associates, and the partners will call, and I am still in constant contact with them. They’re a great firm, and I had a great experience with them.

Tex Parte: Even though they asked you to leave?

Jeremy: There were too many variables — they just weren’t sure how the editing process worked. They’d never had anyone go on television before; they just had a understanding, if you’re going to do anything in media like a TV show or a reality show, it’s just best from their perspective to disassociate yourself with the firm so they can view the finished product and make sure that it doesn’t have any reflection on the firm.

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Jeremy did want to return to the firm. When asked about his career plans, he responded:

I live in Dallas, I love Dallas, my home is in Dallas, my family is in the area . . . I don’t know. I kind of have some feelers out there on the West Coast. I have some interest in entertainment law, but it’s such a niche market, and then there’s the California bar. And it’s a tight market right now. If I had my way, I would have been back at my firm two months ago, if I had the opportunity to. I’d love to stay in Dallas, but I need to see where the opportunity is.

I loved the group I was working with at my firm; they were a good group of people. Our personalities matched up well.

For those of you thinking about giving reality television a whirl, here are some wise words:

Tex Parte: What advice would you give to other lawyers who might be considering trying out for a reality TV show like “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette”?

Jeremy: [Laughs] Make sure you pass the bar first! I would say, get your [law firm] management involved, get your senior partners involved as much as you can. There’s a big conflict involved with confidentiality, and you really have to make an informed decision. Make sure it’s really what you want to do, and if you go on the show, first and foremost, be real – it’s what the people you work with are going to see.

Note also how Charlie Herschel, currently on Survivor, got Weil Gotshal’s go-ahead before heading off to Gabon. You don’t want to jeopardize your lifetime earning potential as a lawyer for 15 minutes of fame.

You can read the rest of the interesting interview of Jeremy Anderson over here. It covers, among other things, how he wound up on the show, how he marked up the Bachelorette contestant contract, and his hellish experience taking the Texas bar.

Anyway, congratulations to Jeremy Anderson on escaping the world of contract attorney work and JC Penney modeling. Welcome back to Biglaw!

Hunton & Williams LLP Adds 18 Lateral Associates and Senior Attorneys [Hunton & Williams]

“The Bachelorette” — Jeremy talks! A “Tex Parte” interview EXCLUSIVE! [Tex Parte / Texas Lawyer]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Jeremy Anderson (scroll down)