Members of Bachelor Nation tend to follow the same trajectory: They appear as a contestant on either of the franchise’s tentpole shows, The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Then, they put a rose in their Instagram bios, move to Los Angeles, do spon-con, and make regular appearances on any of The Bachelor’s many spin-offs, such as Bachelor In Paradise or Bachelor Winter Games. One day, they’ll get engaged, likely to another graduate of the series, and air that wedding live on BIP. If they don’t do all that, they simply fade back into their normal lives — maybe with a podcast. But 27-year-old Tyler Cameron has done none of the above. Instead, he’s building dog houses.
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But let’s back up first. Cameron, a general contractor and model, has made only one official Bachelor appearance as the fan-favorite and runner-up of Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette in 2019. He then went on to date...supermodel Gigi Hadid. It was just for a few months, but the fling seemed to have an Ariana Grande-Pete Davidson air to it, in that suddenly, people who weren’t already fans of Cameron or his reality TV origins knew him by tanned face and name. He got his own place in New York City, hosted jam-packed Central Park group runs with BFF and now upcoming Bachelorette contestant Matt James, and now has his own devoted following on TikTok, of all places, for his antics with The Quarantine Crew.
He hasn’t kissed reality TV totally goodbye, though. In fact, he’s stepping into Chris Harrison’s shoes as a host. Cameron’s new Quibi show trades roses and mansions for bones and dog houses. While out of left field as far as post-Bachelor career choices go, he is joining celebs like Sophie Turner and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in hopping aboard the short-form narrative video platform as it finds its place in the world. On each episode of Barkitecture, out now, Cameron and designer co-host Delia Kenza visit a new celebrity to design and build their lucky canine companions an extravagant dog house from scratch.
He’s not totally removed from the Tyler Cameron of it all. He still finds reasons to take off his shirt in the series, and even fully clothed, he’s still a rugged, charming guy who comes into houses and steals kisses. Dog kisses, that is.
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Barkitecture may seem like the weirdest Bachelor group date ever invented, but for Cameron, it’s exactly in line with the future he’s planned for himself — as in, it wasn’t planned at all.
“I focus on what makes me happy. That's more important to me than all the other stuff,” he told Refinery29 over the phone ahead of Barkitecture’s premiere. “When it comes to breaking the Bachelor mold, I'm just having fun with it.”
One particular upside of the series? It has “nothing to do with dating and my love life.” As if the media circus around Cameron and Hadid wasn’t enough, the past few months have been filled with buzz about a possible reunion and even engagement to ex Hannah Brown after she joined him in Florida quarantine for a few weeks. He’s stressed they’re just friends now, but that won’t stop Bachelor Nation’s notoriously hellbent fanbase from dissecting every one of their interactions over on Reddit. Really, you guys, he’s just here to build dog houses.
“Delia is an amazing co-host,” he gushed. “She comes up with these intricate designs and crazy ideas and I gotta find a way to make it work. For instance, if she wants to make a second story house for a little chihuahua, I gotta make it walkable with a ramp for this dog to be able to get up to the second story.”
Working with dogs adds the risk of a different type of heartbreak. While Cameron already has a dog — Harley — he almost added two more furry friends into the mix.
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“When we did Lisa Vanderpump, [you see] a dog shelter where she takes care of all of her dogs, and when I was there, she had these two little dogs. They were so cute and I wanted to get one, but you couldn't get one without the other, cause they're brother and sister,” he explained. “I ended up having to pass on it, but that whole show I was picturing myself walking down to the airport with two dachshunds in my hands.”
He may be minus two dachshunds, but he’s overrun with people. For almost two months now, Cameron has been hunkered down in his house in Florida with a group of friends to ride out quarantine.
“I was in New York and I saw things starting to take a turn for the worst and thought, I need to get back to Florida. I need to get back to my family,” he recalled. “I actually had my little brother Ryan with me in New York, we both hopped on a flight right away. I reached out to Matt [James] because he was in LA and I reached out to [Jacob Laham] in New York, and Olivia [Faria] was in New York. I was like, ‘Look, guys we can all stay down in Florida together.’ And it's just been a great time. We're just trying to find a way to put a smile on someone's face and distract them from what's going on for a little bit.”
The gang has even had to weather some scandals, like being called out for questionable social distancing and fending off fans attempting to quarantine with them. But mostly, they’re just riding all this out, same as you. But for Cameron, it turns out his work on Barkitecture is coming in handy.
“I'm already in the middle of a project right now. I surprised my brother with a weight room. Our next step is we just got the house surveyed, we're getting a permit, and I'm gonna be building a pool in the backyard,” he said, and of course: “Once I get the whole exterior done, I’m going to build a dope, elaborate dog house.”
This may not be where the rest of his Bachelorette castmates have ended up, but for Tyler Cameron, it’s home.