'The Bachelor' Star Peter Weber Films a Group Date Out in Los Angeles

Filming has officially kicked off for Peter Weber‘s season of The Bachelor! And it seems like things are already heating up. On Thursday, September 26, the new star of the series and a handful of his contestants were spotted out and about as they filmed a group date in Los Angeles. Was his winner among them? It’s too early to say just who’ll fly away with the pilot’s heart this season, but it looks like there are already some good candidates in the cast.

The Southern California native was a frontrunner on his season of The Bachelorette, winning Hannah Brown‘s heart before he lost out to her now former fiancé, Jed Wyatt. Though he wasn’t the one for her, Hannah called him the “dream guy,” and now he’s looking for his dream girl. He did have a speed bump on his path to becoming the Bachelor, though. The star’s ex-girlfriend, a woman named Calee Lutes, claimed that he dumped her in order to go on the show.

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“He told me he loved me for the first time in October [2018], and we talked almost every time we saw each other about how we were going to make it last long term,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “The whole month of December, everything was normal … Two days before Christmas, we FaceTimed and he said that we should end our relationship before it got even more serious. He didn’t really have a reason why. I was devastated and completely blindsided.” She claimed, “He absolutely betrayed me. He interviewed for a reality dating show while simultaneously planning a future with me.”

Peter denied Calee’s version of events, claiming that hadn’t been his motivation for the breakup. “There was a lot of truth to what she said in her story, but there is also a lot of truth that wasn’t mentioned,” he told People. “The show had absolutely nothing to do with me ending that relationship. … I was very serious in trying to progress that relationship and move it forward.” However, he thought Calee wasn’t on the same page. “I wasn’t going to waste her time or my time. But the casting process and my first interview was months after we broke up,” he said.

But he’s still sorry that he left his ex with a bad taste in his mouth. “It’s obvious that I hurt someone that I really did care about,” he admitted. “That was never my intention. And for that I’m sorry. Breakups suck!” Unfortunately, as the new Bachelor, he’s got about 25 breakups ahead of him. Think he’ll handle them any better? Check out the gallery below to get a glimpse of some of the women fighting for Peter’s heart.