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Local hunk Brad Womack is ‘The Bachelor’
TV: Stoked by chatter from local radio jock Bobby Bones, Austin has been buzzing for days about an area hunk picked as the next star of ABC’s long-running reality series, “The Bachelor.”
Wednesday, ABC confirmed that Brad Womack, who co-owns several downtown bars — including the Chuggin’ Monkey, the Marq, Uncle Flirty’s and the Dizzy Rooster — will be the next beau to choose from among a bevy of bachelorettes when the show returns in September.
“He’s a pretty cool dude,” said Caleb Kilborn, a bartender since March at the Dizzy Rooster (pictured below), made famous as a regular hang-out for the cast on MTV’s “Real World Austin.” “He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. On a slow night, he’ll come in and throw a hundred bucks in the tip jar.”
Womack, 34, is billed by the network as the reality romance series’ very own “McSteamy.” Apparently owning (with brothers Chad and Wesley) all those fabulously popular bars has not helped Womack find a suitable babe-mate, so he’s going to let producers of “The Bachelor” help. Although the show’s ratings have drooped of late, the final episodes of the season, when the contenders are narrowed, usually rise into the Nielsen Top 20.
ABC, like other networks, is customarily tight-lipped about reality tapings, but Internet reports place the location for the romance in San Francisco. Of course the network will keep Womack completely under wraps until the new season begins Sept. 24. Once the season premieres, Womack fans will gather for public viewings at Uncle Flirty’s, soon to be redubbed the Thirsty Nickel.
Womack is somewhat accustomed to the local spotlight: The Chuggin’ Monkey was cited in 2005 by the Austin Police Department among the top places suspected drunken drivers said they had their last drinks. The Dizzy Rooster and the Monkey also host well-trafficked Web sites with party pictures from previous nights. After its regular appearances on “Real World,” the Rooster was one of the busiest bars on Sixth Street. The throngs diminished during the intervening months, but the place is clicking again, mostly after 11 p.m.
Born in Atlanta, Womack moved to Texas when he was 12 and attended Texas State University for a year before taking an 8-year odyssey working in oil fields around the country. His next career was bartending with twin brother Chad. They saved their money and bought their own establishment and have been adding to the Womack Family Bar Empire ever since.
“He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever met,” said Dizzy Rooster manager Tomette Walker, who, abiding by Womack’s contract with ABC, revealed almost nothing about the family or the show. “But I think any girl would be lucky to have him.”
So why not star Brad’s identical twin Chad? Turns out he’s already married. Sorry, ladies.
(Blog reported with Diane Holloway.)
Read snarky recaps from last season’s episodes on The M.O.
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