Is Peter Weber A Younger Than Most Bachelor Leads?

As someone who has watched The Bachelor for years, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that the leads and contestants have gone from always being older than me, to being younger. But aside from the fact that I've apparently aged out when it comes to starring on reality TV, have the Bachelors actually been getting younger or are they about the same age as they always were? The newest Bachelor, Peter Weber, is 28 years old — but are most Bachelors under the age of 30?

Peter, who placed third on Hannah Brown’s Bachelorette season, is our 24th Bachelor, which means he was 11 when the show premiered in 2002. Holy hell. And at 28 — his birthday is August 4, 1991 — Peter is below the average age of all the Bachelors, which is around 31 years old. The youngest Bachelor ever was Jesse Palmer, who was 25 when he filmed the series. Byron Velvick is the oldest and was 40 at the time. Their seasons actually aired back-to-back, both in 2004, so viewers got quite a range that year. 

If it seems like the Bachelors are getting younger, well, they aren’t. But there are a few reasons it might seem that way. For one, if you watched Charlie O’Connell’s season way back when you were in high school, then, yeah, he probably seemed pretty old at the ancient age of 29. But the fact is, the Bachelor range isn't changing, you're just getting older. Sorry. Time is a jerk.

Then, there are the contestants on The Bachelor. The women are generally quite a bit younger than the lead. According to Insider, the average age of a Bachelor contestant is 26. As a viewer, it could be easy to associate the women’s average age as being the main “age” for a season of the show, even though the lead tends to be nearly five years older. 

Lastly, there’s the fact that Peter and last year’s Bachelor, Colton Underwood, are on the younger end of the spectrum and they’re the ones who are at the forefront of fans’ minds. Underwood was one of the youngest Bachelors ever at age 26. But, prior to his season, fans got two of the oldest Bachelors: Nick Viall and Arie Luyendyk Jr., who were both 36. 

The show has actually been pretty consistent over the years when it comes to mixing up the age of the Bachelors, and by the looks of things, will probably never go below 25 or over 40. But, sorry, the leads are going to keep seeming younger and younger. No way around that.