Recently, when Bachelor Nation saw Brayden Bowers and Aaron Schwartzman by the water, the two Bachelor students were looking for love on the beaches Paradise.
But in September, Bowers, 25, and Schwartzman, 34, found themselves stranded off the coast of San Diego after going on a boat ride. It took more than three hours before the reality stars were rescued.
“The fact that they drove to what they thought was a ruin, like a debris field in the water, is the only reason I’m here. That’s the only reason,” Schwartzman told Joe Amabile on this week’s episode Bachelor Happy Hour podcast. “Three and a half hours, man. I’ve got maybe two hours left before something, you know, happens medically or God forbid – a man in a gray suit – there’s huge great white sharks out there.”
Bachelor in Paradise Season 9 opens with a love triangle and a lot of early makeup
Schwartzman said he felt “tremendous gratitude and appreciation” after being rescued and believes the incident “definitely changed my outlook on life.”
“Most people in this world haven’t had a real life or death scenario, have they?” Schwartzman, who works as a firefighter, asked Amabile. “I’ve been unfortunate enough to have it at work, but not to this extent. At work, through training, they can get out of life-or-death situations. I rely on my training and maybe on the guys behind me from my team. But when you’re in that situation – helpless, no help, no cell phone, no radio, no nothing – it’s a whole new way of thinking.”
The unexpected event forced Schwartzman to “reset some of the things I’m going to do in the future.”
“We overlook a lot of things, we take them for granted,” he continued. “Life is really just an unstable deck of cards that we expect to be upright every time we wake up. When one of those cards falls, you know, your whole stack can fall. And we take that for granted all the time.”
Brayden Bowers in ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ season 9.
ABC/Craig Sjodin
Schwartzman said he no longer wants to take the “little things” for granted.
“Life is life”, Bachelor the alum said. “We both know that at some point your time card will be punched. And up to that point, you take all those things for granted and it’s not until that crazy fear grips you that you truly appreciate the little things.”
Amabile, 37, called the story “the craziest story I’ve ever heard” on his podcast before Schwartzman confirmed it made his relationship with Bowers even stronger.
“Brayden and I were connected before this s— even happened. We immediately became best friends Bachelor, the day he came home we became brothers,” Schwartzman said. “And yes, if nothing else, this is another one of those pages in our book of friendship that bound our book even tighter than it already is.”
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Schwartzman explained that he now feels closer to Bowers’ family.
“I was just at the winery with his aunt and his mom. They literally call me their adopted son,” Schwartzman said. “So you know there’s always something that’s kind of dark and scary. You just have to let that door open for you. Come in now. See what happens, man.”
Schwartzman and Bowers were looking for a second shot at love in Season 9 Bachelor in Paradise. Schwartzman bonded with Sam Jeffries early, but she may have to leave the beach since she hasn’t pooped since arriving in Mexico.
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Aaron Schwartzman with Sam Jeffries in ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ season 9.
ABC/Craig Sjodin
Bowers, however, received a rose from Kat Izzo, but decided to pursue a relationship with Tanner Courtado after he arrived and took her out on a date.
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Bachelor in Paradise airs Thursdays at 9pm ET on ABC.
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Source: HIS Education