A Penticton Secondary School graduate is still in the running after receiving the final rose in the season 12 premiere of ABC’s popular romance-based reality show The Bachelorette.
Daniel Maguire, a 31-year-old male model, graduated from Pen High in 2003 before graduating from Thompson Rivers University.
Maguire had an awkward run in the first episode of the season which premiered on March 23.
In a review of the episode in Variety, Seth Kelly said that Maguire “gets totally wasted and takes of his clothes. The drunkie half-belly flops into the pool in just his skimps. Everyone is embarrassed — but none so much as Daniel’s mom when she gets together with all her gal pals on Monday for a watch party.”
Maguire made an attempt to introduce himself to bachelorette JoJo by referencing the “Damn Daniel” meme, popularized by a 30-second Twitter video retweeted over 300,000 times in which a teenager repeatedly compliments his friends shoes with the phrase. The video got so popular the two teenagers were on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
Maguire was even featured in a New York Magazine article on May 24 for his attempt to later explain the phrase to JoJo, which according to episode reviews didn’t go over well. The New York Magazine headline reads: “Bachelorette Contestant Learns Important Lesson: Never Explain A Meme.”
In his grad year yearbook, Maguire said his favourite memory at Pen High was when his soccer team went to provincials.
“My favorite [sic] out of school memory is parting [sic] late nights in summer 2002,” Maguire wrote.
It’s unclear whether or not he still plays soccer, but like many, his yearbook prediction was slightly off.
“Hopefully all this stuff in school I have learnt will pay off. In five years I am going to be playing soccer,” Maguire wrote.
Penticton Secondary School teachers who knew Maguire declined to comment on their time with him.
