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Cana hapmwé By D.bu Yeo Toronto Star On the phone, Tom Warmes, the new Bach- elor Canada, sounds confident personable and sensible. So sensible that you can't help but ask why a successfui, seemingly weli-ad- justed man like hlm would go an a TV show ta find a potential mate.. 'l was 28 and 1 was single. The choice in front of me was keep dolng for the next two months what you've been doing for the iast six years or try somethlng different for the next two mnonthsf sald Warmels, who is a na- tive of Campbelvile. Olt was pretty simple ta mef Warmels had tried more traditional dating methods, including online, and had been in two serious relationships that made hlm happy day ta day, but he 'knew that they wouldn't leave me satisfied in the long terr Fie figures that if you consider the many thousands of potentiai datings choices in a city the size of Toronto, «having 25 women who are chosen because somebody realiy thlnks that you could have a cannection with tem seems like the better option. 0it's like onfine dating on steroïcIs' Even wito the «vagIcian,«' which is how one of the 25 has descrlbed herself? Warmeis laughs. You neyer knowr We'il ail find out how those connections Tlm Warmels is seen on the runway for a ceiebrlty fashion show for SiCkKids in August. 51m um*/DT«OMU e.Sta phot played out as The Bachelar Canada pre- mlered fts second season iast Thursday on City TV. Warmels, who attended the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of West- ern Ontario, moved ta Toronto ta become an lnvestmnent banker and then became an entrepreneur, with tech ventures and a con- tracting business. He describes himself as»not a big TV watcherf so he didn't know much beforehand about The Bachelor franchise: a going cancern with 18 seasons completed in the U.S., a couple of spinoif shows and International versions (some now defunct) In a dazen other caun- tries, includlng Canada. But when a friend suggested he would be a good fit for the series antd put hlm in touch± wlth producers, Warmels was ail in. It was 3 about two weecs between the expioratory conversation and the slgning of the contract. And then, there were two months of shoot- > ing that Warmels described as »really stress- fui'though Tnot necessarily in a bad way"- «What 1 was doing, it's going to affect me for the rest of my llfe,' he explains. 'My wife might be standing beside me right naw amongst these 10 or 15 womnen. ... .That level :9 of seriousness, ta have ta deal with in such à a concentrated manner is stressfui. You want ta make the right décision.« The fact Warmeis had done somne part-time 5' modeiling didn't prepare hlm for the realities of making a TV show. For one thing, the modeiiing was a periph- go erai part of his life; for another, Tthe amount of cameras that you have on you at ail times, 03 1 don't think anything can prepare you for thatf Yet, with the gravity of 'trying ta find sorme- body ta spend the rest of your 11fr with,' the cameras and other aspects of the production melted away very quickiy, Warmnels says. Or course, a truly successful Bachelar season aiWays ends with a proposai, but Warmnels isn't aliowed ta say if he found the love of his life on the series. "i'm happy now, yeah," is ail he II admit. Sa was Brad Smith, Canadas first Bachelor, when he became engaged ta Bianka Kam- ber at the end af his season. They split up 16 months later. But Warmels isn't bothered by the franchises rather dismal track record for lasting match- es; he daoesn't even knaw what the success rate is. I want this to be my own journey, 1 don't want anything ta bias me about what hap- pened in previaus seasons,' he says. OFor me, this was more about I'm a different guy; N'e aiways kind of marched ta the beat of my own drum in life and this was somnething that kind of fit in there pretty congruentlyf