Peter Weber Opens Up About The Bachelor, His Podcast, & His New Book - Exclusive Interview
Pilot Pete is flying high. The former Bachelor has been living his best life — launching a podcast, moving to a new city, and even writing his first book. And although he is still single, Peter Weber has come a long way from his original stint on Hannah Brown's season of "The Bachelorette" back in 2019, when he became a household name for getting hot and heavy with his leading lady in a windmill.
The then-fledgling reality star quickly became a fan favorite for his sweet demeanor and affable personality. Therefore, it came as no surprise when he was cast as the Bachelor the following year. As loyal fans know, his season proved to be unprecedented due to the fact that he proposed to Hannah Ann Sluss during the finale before breaking up with her three months later because he was still in love with contestant Madison Prewett. And even though he appeared with Prewett by his side at the "After the Final Rose" episode, the couple announced their split just two days later (via Bachelor Nation). And to complicate things even further, he ended up rekindling his romance with another contestant from his season, Kelley Flanagan, though they ended things after eight months (via Cosmopolitan).
In an exclusive interview, The List sat down with the franchise alum — who was just as lovely as he seems on TV — just ahead of the release of his children's book "The Adventures of Pilot Pete." The pilot opened up to us about all things Bachelor Nation — from whether or not he still talks to all of his exes to Michelle Young's current season of "The Bachelorette." He also revealed if he'd ever try to find love on "Bachelor in Paradise."
According to Peter Weber, this experience was 'life-changing'
I am so impressed that you're here at 9 a.m. after running [in the New York City Marathon] yesterday.
I'm impressed too. [Laughs] I mean, luckily I don't have to go very far from my bed ...
But still! I live by the finish line, so I was seeing everybody with their jackets on limping yesterday and I was thinking to myself ... I mean, I knew you were running, but then I saw it on Instagram and I'm like, "Is this interview still going to happen at 9:00?"
Hey, I got you. I'm committed, so we're all good.
Very impressed. Let's start with that. What was that experience like for you?
Honestly, it was probably the most rewarding experience I've had in my entire life, truly. My roommate, Dustin [Kendrick], he had run one marathon prior, and he told me the exact same thing after he finished his. And he's like, "After you do that, it's such a way to prove to yourself that literally there is nothing in this world you can't do if you just set your mind to it."
It was brutal, don't get me wrong. But you just being able to have that mental fortitude and just keep pushing yourself through and through and through, what that, I think, is going to do for me moving forward for the rest of my life, honestly, this is almost life-changing. That sounds dramatic, but just the confidence it gives you moving forward with whatever other thing in life you want to tackle is like, why not?
Is it true you had only run a few miles prior to this marathon?
[Laughs] That is 100% true. I do not recommend it. My knees are killing me right now, but yeah, I had done six miles. I did that probably like three weeks ago. Before that, it was like two miles. And then I did like six. I was like, "I need to be able to run at least a decent amount before I do this marathon." And I paced myself. I was feeling okay. But yeah, I didn't really have that much time to prepare other than that.
In his first children's book, he shares his passion for flying
So did you always want to write a book, particularly a children's book?
You know what? Honestly, no. It wasn't at the top of my mind at all. I would say, for sure, before my whole experience ... and then, post-show, it really wasn't something I had thought about. Obviously, I'm very passionate about flying. And I had actually had a publisher — my publisher that I'm working with — he had approached me and asked me if it was something I'd be interested in. And the second he brought that idea to me, I was like, "Boom, yes, there's a spark there." I'm like, "Absolutely, I would love to share my passion and just what makes me feel most alive with children and hopefully inspire them to find what makes them feel most alive and just inspire the younger generation, if you will." So, yeah, it was kind of something that just kind of came to be and [I] just ran with it.
What was the process like? Did anything surprise you about book writing?
The process was really cool. I had a bunch of meetings with my publisher, with my illustrator. It was really cool — kind of just the whole research aspect of it. The illustrations are incredible in the book. And obviously, the whole book is factual. It's my story from the first time I fell in love with flying, the first time I saw an airplane to present day.
So all that was just super cool to just go back down memory lane. I'd send over copies of just essentially writing out what I thought [about] the book, how it should go. We'd go over them every couple weeks. And then they had me get real pictures from growing up and flying. And that was super cool again with the whole memory lane thing and just being able to relive all that. And all the illustrations are essentially — my illustrator, she just took the real pictures and made it into the book. So it was a really cool, fun process. It's something I've never really done before.
Peter Weber revealed the best and worst parts of his Bachelor season
Now let's go to "The Bachelor." What did you learn from your experience on the show?
This may come off weird, but I truly feel this way. You got to be able to put yourself first in so many aspects in life and be in such a good place and do things for yourself to truly get yourself to a point where you can be that rock and that support for another human being in a relationship. And I think the show really gave me a crash course on that, put me through the trials and everything with that. And I would say that was one of the biggest lessons I learned and why I'm grateful for the show on the back end here.
What were the best and the hardest parts to see when you watched your season back?
I would say, obviously any time a relationship would end, that was always the hardest part for me on the show, was knowing that I was hurting someone. That's just obviously a part of the show and that comes every week in and week out. So just having to watch that stuff back, obviously that wasn't fun.
The best parts were — I had the time of my life, filming the show and doing all the travel and all the unique dates and cool experiences. So just being able to relive those again from the eyes of the camera. Again, kind of going back to the book, but just writing the book and going down memory lane again, it was kind of a similar experience like that. So just being able to see all those cool moments again was pretty cool to have documented.
What were your favorite dates then? Any cool places?
For me, the football date always really stuck out. That was just a really fun date out in Cleveland. Just had a ton of fun. I've always been a big football fan. Any flying date obviously was really cool to be able to just show my passion. I actually have a couple Easter eggs here in the book about my experience on the show that I'm curious to see if Bachelor Nation can figure out.
Oh, interesting.
Some I would say are probably obvious. Some are a little bit more hidden. Yeah, for sure, the flying aspects of the show. It's my passion, so being able to share that with the girls I was dating in the world, obviously, I loved.
This is why he would consider joining Bachelor in Paradise
Do you have any contact with any of your exes from the show?
I do not. No. Nope.
What are the worst parts of having a public breakup? I asked that to Ben Higgins, by the way, too, so don't feel like you're singled out.
No, no, it's all good. I'm stoked, by the way, for Ben. It's so cool. [He's] getting married here soon, so all the best to him. I would just say just going from not having your life in the public eye so much obviously to now overnight having it in the public eye, there's no way to prepare for all the opinions that you get from so many people about now your private life, your relationship.
So I think just having to adjust to realize that it really doesn't matter what everyone thinks. As long as you're okay with yourself and you're confident in your decisions and you're doing what you know is best for you and for that relationship and the other person, that's really all that matters. And it takes a little bit of time to really kind of tune out the distractions, if you will, and just really come back to what truly matters, not the opinions of people you don't even know, really.
How did you originally get cast in "The Bachelorette"?
[For] "The Bachelorette," I had been DMed by a producer.
Oh, really?
So I had applied years prior, never heard. I'd been a fan of the show from Jake [Pavelka], the other pilot back years ago. And then I applied; I was way too young. Thank God it didn't happen then, but I was like 23 or 24 or something. And then never heard anything for years after. And then randomly before Hannah's [Brown] season, got DMed by a producer and that just kind of got the ball rolling.
Oh, cool. I saw an interview where you said that you would consider joining "Bachelor in Paradise." Is that still the case?
Yeah. Again, I think I said in that interview, "I hope that I don't have the need for 'Paradise.'" But I think what I meant by that was just that I truly have realized that obviously going through the whole experience, I'm someone that — and I think, to be honest, most people are like this — it's very difficult to date so many people at once and the distractions that come along with that. It works — don't get me wrong. It has worked for people obviously, but for me, I'm someone, I think I flourish more in an environment where it's just one on one and I can give my attention to one person and I don't have to worry about spreading that and just be focused on one person. And I think that's what "Paradise" would offer, so that's why I said that.
That makes sense to me. That's a good point. I think that "Bachelor in Paradise" is more organic in that way.
The reality TV star opens up about living in New York
Okay, so getting back to New York, first of all, how long have you lived here, and do people come up to you all the time on the street and tell you that they're a big fan?
Yeah. No, it's been cool. The support in New York is incredible. Just running the marathon yesterday, that I can't tell you, it almost gets you emotional. I didn't expect that. You're so dog tired and hurting and just having people that you don't even know just cheer you on and scream out your name and say, "You got this." That was super cool. Bachelor Nation out here, I've always said they're amazing and New York is just another example of that.
Yeah, I literally ran into Matt [James] and Rachael [Kirkconnell] on the street here [with my mom]. My mom and I watched Matt's season together. And actually, my dad watched your season as well with my mom.
No way. Oh, very cool. That's awesome. Appreciate it.
Tell us about the book launch party you're having in New York and what Bachelor Nation stars will be there and who you're close with in Bachelor Nation.
Yeah, super excited. Doing my book launch party coming up here on Saturday, November 13. It's amazing to finally see. I've been working on this for about a year and a half. So just finally seeing all that hard work now, the culmination when it comes together and [to] be able to share it with my family, my friends. They're all coming. It's going to be super, super cool. I'm going to have a bunch of copies to hand out.
I'm going to have actually a cool contest where I'm picking one winner to come join us all at the party with a plus-one. [It's] going to be in New York on Saturday and going to have a lot of good friends. It's cool to have a lot of, obviously, friends that I've made through the show. A lot of "Bachelor" alums are going to be there. New York's such a great city because there's so many of us here.
I know, it's crazy. But just recently this happened.
Actually, you'd know better than I would because I just came here in January, so this is kind of all I've ever known.
I mean, there were New York contestants, but you guys are the actual main event, you know what I mean? It's crazy. I guess also with social media now, maybe people were in New York before and I didn't know as much because now everything's more on social media.
Peter Weber hosts a podcast with this franchise alum
Let's go to your podcast ["Bachelors in the City"] that you started with Dustin. Who have been your favorite guests so far?
Ooh, we've had a lot of great guests. Actually, Juliana [his publicist] is the reason one of them came on, Dr. Darcy [Sterling]. She's a relationship guru and she came on and did almost a therapy session with the two of us. Dustin and I are both in different parts of our life relationship-wise. He had just gotten into a relationship actually at that point. And obviously, I've been in a season of being single, but it was just really insightful, and she's absolutely great. So I would say Dr. Darcy, for sure, is one.
Any friends from the show, it's always great to have them on and catch up with them and talk about whatever's new in their life. Jonathan Mark, he came on, we did a little Halloween special with him. He's actually a medium. And we were able to go do some kind of ghost-hunting around New York, so that was pretty cool. Yeah, it's been fun. I never would've thought we would've been in the whole podcast world, so it's been cool to dive into that.
You did write a post about Chris Harrison on Instagram. What was your experience like with him on the show, and do you still keep in touch?
Yeah, Chris, for sure. To me on the show, he was always a great kind of father figure that you had as you're navigating that experience because you don't have your real family or your friends there to kind of lean on. So [I] definitely enjoyed my experience, very grateful for everything that he did for me, helping me kind of navigate it and super happy for him and Lauren [Zima] now. I just saw they got engaged, so that's super exciting. Just wish them obviously the best, him and Lauren, for sure.
Does his future girlfriend need to love football?
You're a huge football fan. Does your future girlfriend need to like that sport?
[Laughs] Yeah, so I was at a Seahawks game like two weeks ago. And I got asked a similar question like that.
Oh, really? That's funny.
I have confidence that I would be able to, organically, if she's not into football, intrigue her into liking it just through my passion, if you will, specifically with the Seahawks. The biggest thing for me is just she doesn't have to be the biggest fan, but if it gets serious with us and it's endgame for the two of us, our kids are going to be Seahawks fans. There's just no question about that. So that's what I'm going to say about that.
That's funny. I'm asking you this because I don't know anything about football. My father's Italian, so he's into soccer. There was never football on in the house. And I just recently started dating someone who's very into football. He's from New Jersey, but he's into the Raiders for some reason.
Interesting.
He doesn't care that I'm not into it, but I'm kind of learning slowly what the red zone is, things like that.
Yeah, what's cool is when a girl's like ... She doesn't have to be a big fan. That's not the point. Just the fact that she wants to spend time with you and learn about something that you like so much and why you like it, that's the cool part with a girlfriend or whatnot, watching football and enjoying it.
Right. And then he promised that he'll — and he did — watch a dating show with me of my choosing.
Hey, there you go. It's all about trade-offs.
Exactly.
Peter Weber gushed about this Bachelorette star
Okay, so these are questions that we ask everyone we interview at The List. What is your favorite reality TV show of the year?
I'll just be brutally honest. Don't really watch a lot of reality TV outside of the show because we do podcasts that center around a lot of recaps. Especially in the last year, I've just been so focused on my book. That's been taking up a lot of time.
Of course, of course.
I really have not put too much time, I think, into reality TV.
But you're a huge fan of Michelle's [Young] season.
Yes.
I heard on the podcast.
I think the world of Michelle. I think she is absolutely killing it. Yeah, I am really enjoying her season for sure.
And who's your favorite celebrity couple of the year?
Favorite celebrity couple, oh boy.
It could also be a Bachelor Nation couple.
I'm going to say my roommate, Dustin Kendrick and Katrina.
Perfect. There you go.
I don't know if you guys seen too much of ... You're going to start seeing more of Kat, but she's a rock star.
Awesome, good answer. What are your future plans? You can answer it any way you want, relationship-wise, professionally, New York-wise.
I'd love my book to take off, no pun intended with that.
That's funny.
Because I would love to make this a series. And it's the first book. Obviously it follows the story of my love and how I got to where I'm at now. So that's all non-fiction, but I would love to make a fictional series moving on. "The Adventures of Pilot Pete," so make another book and then have that be a story of a far-off place and that whole adventure and also kind of be educational for kids as well. So would love to continue the series. I'm flying, doing my dream job right now, loving that. Honestly, I think this marathon's going to light a fire under my a** fitness-wise. I'm really excited to see kind of what my potential is now. I've said that in the past, but this really did something to me immensely, so I'm excited to see where it goes.
Peter Weber's book "The Adventures of Pilot Pete" is available for pre-order and will be released on November 23. Shoppers will also have the chance to receive a signed copy when they order.