Why The Bachelor’s Colton and Cassie Are Living Apart

Bachelor alum Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph have chosen not to live together, but that doesn’t mean their feelings for one another are any less strong than they were during the ABC show’s 23rd season.

‘Bachelor’ Alums Colton Underwood, Cassie Randolph, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick Double Date in Aspen

Underwood, 27, and Randolph, 23, are keeping separate residences — living north of Hollywood and in West Hollywood, respectively — to avoid repeating the mistakes of past Bachelor couples. “We are trying to do everything as normal as possible,” Underwood explained to Extra. “I don’t think you realize how many important steps you miss in the Bachelor process, which is nothing against them. We want to make sure we do this the right way. Statistically speaking, for Bachelors, it’s not very good odds, so I think us going against what other Bachelor and Bachelorette couples have done is probably going to work out in our favor.”

The self-confessed virgin continued: “We both feel like … living our separate lives but still coming together at the end of the day is what’s most important for us and what’s the right step for where we’re at in our relationship.”

Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph Make Their Red Carpet Debut at the 2019 ACM Awards

As Bachelor viewers will recall, Underwood threatened to quit the show after Randolph dumped him near the end of the season, but in the finale, the Illinois native broke up with finalists Hannah Godwin and Tayshia Adams and reconciled with Randolph.

Not so coincidentally, Randolph lives in the same building as another season 23 contestant. Earlier this month, Caelynn Miller-Keyes exclusively told Us Weekly she and the speech pathology student “are living two floors apart from each other.”

“It is completely normal,” Miller-Keyes, 23, contended at the time. “I think people are a little weirded out. They don’t understand it. But we filmed a TV show [together]. … If you look at past, like, prior contestants, they’re friends … with the lead. That’s exactly what happened in this situation. I was able to detach my emotions and my feelings, and Colton’s like a big brother to me and I love him as a friend.”

Every ‘Bachelor’ Star Who Didn’t Propose

Randolph might be Miller-Keyes’ neighbor for a while longer: She and Underwood are intentionally taking things slow. “[With] any normal couple, you have conversations that [are] sort of what’s next,” Underwood told Extra. “But right now we’re enjoying dating, we’re enjoying getting to know each other more, we’re getting to find out more about each other.”