The Biggest Bombshells From Tyler Cameron's Book

Fan-favorite Bachelor Nation star Tyler Cameron is revealing details about his time with Hannah Brown, his past experiences as the "ultimate party boy" and his encounter with "angel" Jennifer Aniston.

By Tierney Bricker Jul 27, 2021 12:00 PMTags
Watch: Tyler Cameron Says Chris Harrison Is at Peace With "Bachelor" Exit

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Bachelor Nation, rejoice! You're finally getting more Tyler Cameron content. But this time, it's on his terms.

While viewers have cruelly been denied more Tyler on their TV screens since he first appeared on The Bachelorette, making it to the final two on Hannah Brown's season in 2019, the 28-year-old has quickly become one of the franchise's most beloved and well-known contestants. (A high-profile romance with Gigi Hadid, viral TikTok videos and countless shirtless pics surely helped.)

And now, Tyler is recounting his experience on the show in his new book You Deserve Better: What Life Has Taught Me About Love, Relationships, and Becoming Your Best Self, which is part-memoir about his life and part-how-to-guide for dating and chock full of tea. The reality star is dishing on what really happened between him and Hannah after the show, how he got high during his audition and his epic bromance with Matt James, his BFF who went on to become the Bachelor. 

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The Biggest Bombshells From Ben Higgins' Book

Here are the biggest revelations from You Deserve Better...

The Truth About the Fantasy Suite

Like Hannah Brown revealed on the show, Tyler Cameron confirmed that the pair did not have sex during their overnight date on The Bachelorette.

"During that night together, we hooked up and it kept getting steamy, but I kept pumping the brakes," he wrote. "We had the best night— just hanging out, talking and connecting. We really opened up and poured into each other, tackling so many big topics and sharing so much of ourselves. The fact that we could easily talk all night was what made me think, Holy shit, this could be it for me. I was genuinely upset when I saw the sun coming up, because I knew our time together was coming to an end."

The Proposal We Never Got to See

Yes, Tyler was fully ready to get down on one knee and ask for Hannah's hand in marriage during The Bachelorette finale. And he even had an epic speech prepared, which he shared in full in the book.

"Hannah, I know our love was slow to start, but it's a light that will burn forever. I know you had a label on me from the beginning, but these are the only labels I want: husband, best friend, lover, protector, father to our children," part of it read. "I'm so madly in love with you. I want to support you in your dreams and make you happy for the rest of your life. I've given all of myself to you— will you give all of yourself to me? I know we always say, let's have a day...but let's turn this day into a life. Hannah Brown, will you marry me?"

While he felt confident, Tyler admitted to barely sleeping the night before the planned proposal. "I was so overcome with anxiety that I actually started dry heaving," he revealed.

So, That Morning After

In a truly iconic moment for the franchise, Hannah asked Tyler out during their After the Final Rose reunion following her messy breakup with winner Jed Wyatt, who went on the show with, let's say, some complicated romantic entanglements.

"Of course, I was glad to hear from her, and I was happy to see her again, but I also made it clear that I needed to take some time for myself to figure out what was right for me," Tyler explained.

But when morning-after photos of the pair surfaced just days later, the Internet freaked out, something Tyler admitted he had not anticipated. 

"Hannah and I made plans to see each other, but I didn't totally comprehend how major the reaction to that would be," he shared. "We saw each other in L.A., where yes, I slept at Hannah's house, but we didn't sleep together. We weren't in a relationship at that point, and we definitely weren't boyfriend and girlfriend."

But when Tyler was photographed with a different girl in New York City just two days later, he realized how he had made Hannah look, even if they spoke that very day about deserving to see other people. 

"But I still put Hannah in a tough, tough position," he reiterated. "But that's one thing I feel very, very sorry for. If I could go back and do it all again, I would handle it differently. My communication should have been better."

Getting High At His Final Audition

Though Tyler admitted to not initially taking his application for The Bachelorette seriously—he was this close to applying for the WWE—he, of course, ended up making it far in the casting process. Flown to Los Angeles for the final round, he was given money to buy himself dinner after the interviewbut instead of getting food, he decided to do something else with his stipend. 

"Recreational marijuana had been legalized in California, and I thought this would be the perfect chance to go see one of these dispensaries everyone had been talking about," he wrote, explaining how he ended up purchasing edibles and taking three gummies. 

Tyler then recounted becoming paranoid and freaking out a bit by how high he was, arriving back to the hotel past curfew and acting awkward around producers before returning to his room. 

"I immediately crawled into bed and hid under the blankets," he shared. "I swear I heard someone knocking at the door, but it might have just been my paranoia. Either way, I didn't answer, and I was careful not to make a sound. I stayed hidden under those covers until morning."

The One Where He Reveals His Celeb Crush

Like all of us, Tyler is a Friends fan, revealing his feelings for Jennifer Aniston while detailing his run-in with the celeb Bachelor fan at the 2019 People's Choice Awards.

First describing her as an "angel," Tyler gushed, "She was glowing," before recounting their brief interaction. 

"'Hey!' she said. 'How are you?' I looked around; I was sure she must have been talking to someone else," he recalled. "'Me?' I said. 'Yes! It's good to see you. I hope you're having a good time,' she said. And then she continued on, floating down the hallway. I just stood there, thinking, I can retire now."

His Surprising Idol

Thanks to a brief interlude from his longtime friend Mollie, we learn that Tyler was obsessed with an iconic Zac Efron character.

"When I think of Tyler, I think of Troy Bolton, the protagonist from High School Musical, because Tyler so desperately wanted to be him," Mollie shared. "He knew all the dance moves, and all the words, to every High School Musical number. For probably four years after those movies came out, Tyler would spontaneously break out in song."

Learning From His Mistakes

Spoiler alert: Tyler was once a f--kboy. 

After being cheated on by his high school girlfriend, Tyler admittedly became the "ultimate party boy," something he is "not proud" of. It got so intense, he revealed, that in college he "actually got blacklisted from certain sororities because I hooked up with too many girls."

Tyler eventually settled down when he met his ex-girlfriend Mariah, though he acknowledged that while he never cheated, he didn't give her "the respect she deserved" and wasn't "protective of her emotions."

Not only did he check out other girls on social media, Mariah once looked through Tyler's phone to discover unsolicited nude photos a random woman sent him, one of the final straws in her decision to end their relationship. As she put it, "You're not good at being a boyfriend."

But those experiences helped Tyler learn to become a better partner, writing, "That's why, when I was on The Bachelorette, I always defended Hannah. I saw some of the other guys on the show taking from Hannah, but not giving back in return...I knew how I had treated my ex— she poured so much value into our relationship but didn't get any of it back— and I didn't ever want that to happen to Hannah."

Losing His Virginity

Early in the book, Tyler detailed his first time, which happened in high school in an unexpected setting: His mother's bed.

After the encounter, however, Tyler admitted that "panic set in. What if I've gotten her pregnant? I didn't know what to do. I know now that communication is key, but instead of reaching out to her, I kept my feelings to myself."

Internally "spiraling" deeper into this fear, Tyler ended up going quiet on the girl, who eventually called him out on Facebook, asking, "How could you do this? You hooked up with me and disappeared?!"

Which, he admitted, wasn't the best look. "Of course she felt that way," he said. "That's exactly what it looked like to her. But I honestly wasn't ghosting her; I was just freaked out."

The Ultimate Bromance

Just how important is Tyler's friendship with Matt James? "Girls, dogs, Matt," Tyler stated. "The greatest friends."

After meeting at Wake Forest, their bromance truly blossomed when Tyler came to New York and crashed with Matt after college, sharing a tiny bedroom. (Matt slept in the bed, Tyler in a beanbag. Where is this sitcom?)

"Aside from his being an incredible friend, one of the many things I appreciate about Matt is that he's really motivating to be around," Tyler explained. "He's driven and successful and always finds a way to give back. He's a trailblazer in a lot of ways. We talk at least a couple of times a week, and I love that we can laugh and be funny and also be serious together."

His Biggest Regret

After his mom Andrea Hermann Cameron died after suffering from a brain aneurysm in March 2020, Tyler recounted their heartbreaking last conversation.

"I look back and wish I had told my mom that I loved her more," he wrote. "When I think back to my last phone call with her, she was pissed at me, and we didn't say we loved each other. I had no idea I would never get the chance to tell her that again."

Tyler also divulged some details about his parents' two separations when he was younger and how he struggled with accepting his mom moving on and dating other men when he was older. 

"This new lifestyle choice was hard for me accept at the time," he admitted. "I remember once, when I was in college, I wanted to physically fight one of her boyfriends. He wasn't my dad, and I didn't get how she could be with anyone else."

It wasn't until he heard a lyric from a Drake song—"Who the f--k wants to be seventy and alone?''—that he began to understand, writing, "I was like, 'Oh shit.' I got it. My mom was only after what we all want. She just wanted someone to care about her."

An Accidental Feminist Icon

While Bachelor Nation viewers quickly fell for Tyler thanks to his woke views on feminism, sexuality and consent, the reality star admitted all of the fanfare felt "unwarranted," explaining, "If I'm a feminist icon, then we have a problem. I gave Hannah the space to be herself and listened to what she told me. That should be the norm!"

But it wasn't just the fans that were impressed by how Tyler handled himself, with the former contestant detailing an encounter he had with ABC's then-president Karey Burke at the After the Final Rose taping.

"She hopped out of her car and said, 'You're the feminist icon this show needed,'" he remembered. "Now, I wasn't about to argue with her, so I just said, 'Thank you,' and took a bunch of pictures with her kids."

Coping With Anxiety

While he acknowledged that his "life has changed in these amazing ways" since becoming famous, Tyler wrote, "I didn't have anxiety until after I was famous. Before, when I heard about anxiety, I didn't fully understand what or how it affected people's lives."

He admitted life post-Bachelorette has "become harder, more scrutinized...There are so many times when I feel on edge or like I can't breathe. Sometimes, it feels like I can do nothing right in the public eye. There are days I spend struggling with massive internal battles."

You Deserve Better: What Life Has Taught Me About Love, Relationships, and Becoming Your Best Self

Tyler's first book is available now.

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