When Peter Kraus finished Season 13 of The Bachelorette as Rachel Lindsay‘s runner-up, it seemed like a no-brainer that he’d be the next lead for The Bachelor. So, fans were quite shocked when, one month after the finale, the show dipped back into its archives and named Arie Luyendyk Jr. as the Season 22 Bachelor star.

Eight years later, Kraus is opening up about what happened and why he was never the show’s leading man.