Where's NETX's Bachelorette contender now?
Lanny Lawrence's new job allows more time for his horses

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Lanny Lawrence was a featured guest at a recent business promotion in Mount Pleasant. -- Staff photo by Montgomery

July 20, 2004 -- Last fall American TV viewers watched as Bachelorette Meredith chose Ian in ABC's "The Bachelorette," but many East Texans was wanting her to choose Mount Vernon's hometown hopeful Lanny Lawrence.

The 27-year-old Lawrence, who made it to the top four bachelor selections, reflected on his experience recently while signing autographs and posing for photos at a promotional session at a Mount Pleasant business on July 10.

One man at the session told Lawrence, while shaking his hand, that he had watched every episode and said, "No, you can't do this" when Lawrence was eliminated. The gentlemen added his first wife was from Mount Vernon, but he had since been married three more times and was currently a bachelor himself. Lawrence added, "Well, maybe you should be on The Bachelor (television reality show)."

Lawrence, who was working on a North Texas horse ranch during the program's taping, stated the show was a "real pressure situation" and the bachelors were constantly being taped. He said just when you thought you wasn't, the cameras where actually rolling.

An example was when Lawrence explained the breeding mount to Meredith, when she visited him at the ranch. The mount, which resembles a mare to some degree, is used to collect stallion semen. The semen is artificially inseminated into a mare.

"I was embarrassed (even though) I do, or did, that every day for a living. I was explaining exactly what was done. I never thought they would air that," he stated.

The former contender for the bachelorette's hand said hopefully Meredith was just as nice in person, but with the camera constantly rolling, true personalities were rarely seen by the audience. Lawrence said he would have dated her but didn't know if there would have been a marriage proposal.

The show was fun, according Lawrence, but don't look for him to appear as the next Bachelor (as some unchosen men from The Bachelorette show have done).

"It was fun. I made some good friends, but I wouldn't do it again ... right now anyway," he commented.

Lawrence, who viewers saw working for Manion Ranch in Aubrey, has since changed occupations and has moved. Now living in the East Texas town of Whitehouse, he is a pharmaceutical representative for Wyeth, working with doctors.

When asked why he chose the "human health" side, versus the "animal health" side, of the pharmaceutical field, he responded, "Who is going to feed my animals? With the human side, I am home every night.

The "animal side" business required Lawrence to travel to several states.

"I still have horses and am still riding. Hopefully, one day, I will have my own ranch," Lawrence said.

He has also welcomed three Boer goats to the Lawrence household, courtesy of his aunt and uncle Diane and Waymon Newsome. The Newsome's own Adventure Farms in Mount Vernon.

Even though some East Texas females were heartbroken when Lawrence wasn't selected as Meredith's love, there is hope ... he is still looking for that special girl.