The bachelor from Kansas City comes home – with his family.
Tanner Tolbert, who grew up in Overland Park, rose to reality TV fame when he took a break from his job at Legends Honda in KCK in 2015 to compete in season 11 of ABC’s “The Bachelorette.”
Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe didn’t give him a rose.
But the University of Kansas graduate found the love of his life, former Bachelor contestant Jade Roper, when he competed on Bachelor in Paradise later that year.
He proposed to her on a Mexican beach, they married in a special episode of The Bachelor in January 2016 and began their married life in Johnson County.
But for more than five years, they have lived in a Los Angeles suburb in Orange County, California, raising three children and becoming two of Bachelor Nation’s most popular couples.
In two Instagram posts this week, they surprised their fans with the announcement that they were packing their things and leaving California.
The first post on Wednesday was a teaser.
“IT’S OFFICIAL!!! We’re off to our next adventure and moving on! Any guesses as to where we’re headed next? There might be a clue in this video,” they wrote.
Was it Tanner’s button-down shirt covered in flowers? (Hawaii?)
Her daughter’s black tutu and red beret? (France?)
As it turned out, the clue was the red Kansas City Chiefs cap on her youngest son’s head.
A second post on Thursday revealed that they were on their way there.
“The Tolberts are home! We are taking so many memories from the last three years at our old house in the Canyon (5 1/2 years total in California) and we are ready to create so many more in this new chapter,” they wrote.
“Wherever we are together, that is home.”
Fans who forgot or didn’t know that Tanner is a “good boy from the Midwest,” as his boss at the dealership once described him, asked, “Can you tell us why Kansas?”
Tanner, who graduated from Blue Valley West, responded with an Instagram story featuring screenshots of news posts and rankings naming Overland Park one of the best places in the country to raise a family and buy a home.
Their daughter, Emerson, turns 7 next month. Youngest son, Reed, is 3. Middle son, Brooks, who was born on the floor of his mother’s bedroom closet, turns 5 later this month.
Tanner explained in another Instagram story: “If you’re from here, you know this is truly the best place to raise a family.”
Plus, Kansas City is closer to Jade’s family in Nebraska, he wrote. (She is a Denver native who moved to Los Angeles and grew up in western Nebraska.)
He also emphasized “the sense of community here… the schools… my friends.”
And the Chiefs.
“Plus, I had to be back in time for the third win,” he wrote, adding symbols of a Chiefs helmet and the Super Bowl trophy.
He has a direct connection to the “guy from the Chiefs” who is currently dating Taylor Swift.
Tanner’s sister, Kara Tolbert, appeared on the reality show “Chasing Kelce” in 2016, where she represented the state of Kansas in competition for the affections of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
She didn’t win. But maybe the Tolberts, Kansas City’s newest celebrity couple, will be found in a certain suite at Chiefs games next season?
Bachelor Nation is guaranteed to be watching.
“We are excited for the Tolbert family as they embark on this new adventure,” Bachelor Nation, the official website for “The Bachelor” franchise, wrote this week.
“We can’t wait to see what the future holds for them in Kansas!”
