Everybody wants to fall in love, or at least meet someone intriguing. That’s what Jason Illian ’98 believes.

And it’s part of the answer to the question why he followed through on a dare and tried out for realty television show “The Bachelorette.” But the truth is, he never thought he’d make it.

A 29-year-old motivational speaker from Fort Worth, Illian went through six rounds of interviews, telling the brutal, honest facts: He was a virgin, like it or not.

“I thought that they would surely cut me the first time through, but they never did,” he said. “When I made the final cut for the show, I wasn’t going to change all of a sudden. I don’t introduce myself as a virgin, but I’m not going to shy away from it either. It’s who I am, but it doesn’t define me.”

He also felt the show would be a great platform to share his faith: “It’s fairly commonplace to be sleeping with someone before marriage. I just wanted to exhibit an alternative to that culture. It’s like my mom says, ‘We treat our bodies like paper plates and not like the fine china God intended.’ “

His honesty was good enough for bachlorette Jennifer Schefft, a 28-year-old account executive from Chicago, because he received one of 15 roses the first episode. But on the second, his forthrightness was his undoing.

No matter, he says. The experience gives him new material for the flood of speaking engagements that have come since January.

“The way we date today leaves something to be desired,” he said. “It’s all about who can kiss who first. Or who slept with who. Who was the fastest to get in bed. There’s something more out there and I think it’s worth talking about.”