When the CFL season was officially cancelled, EE Football Team defensive back Jordan Beaulieu decided to try his hand at another role — reality star on the popular Quebec dating show Occupation Double.
This was the show’s 14th season. Beaulieu had heard of it but never thought he’d get the chance to be a part of it because it was filmed during football season.
“If I’m not going to have a football season, I’m single, I mean why not give it a shot,” Beaulieu said.
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Auditions had already wrapped up, but he explained his situation with the CFL and they squeezed him in for an audition and he was picked as a cast member.
Beaulieu compares the show to a mix between The Bachelor and Big Brother. The cameras are on 24 hours a day inside the contestant houses. They go on dates, take part in challenges and even face elimination.
“We have parties, have activities, we have dates that are set up,” Beaulieu said. “At the beginning, people get to know each other. As it goes along people vote each other out, and people form couples. As the season goes on more and more, couples start to form. You got to do challenges to get partners out.”
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He said some people who end up on the show, are fanatics of the program and come prepared as “gamers.”
“People that are good, they have a different personality than what they are in the real life,” Beaulieu said. “It was shocking because I never really watched the show.
He met his current girlfriend, Julie-Anne, on the show, who was a returning contestant. When she was eliminated before Beaulieu, he wanted to get off the show as soon as possible so he could actually spend time with her.
“People watch and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, they’re having so much fun, they bond together,'” Beaulieu said. “But I would see Julie-Anne maybe two, three hours a week.”
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The pair spent time together in a chalet in Quebec after being eliminated.
But when Beaulieu returned to his real life, and got his phone back from producers, he realized he had a new stardom. Over 94,000 followers on Instagram, most of which, he admits, don’t follow him because he’s CFL player. He gets stopped in the grocery stores at home in Quebec now.
“People here are crazy about this show,” Beaulieu said. “I had no idea what I was putting myself in to with how people are critical of the show, how they can identify themselves in the candidates that are there. It’s crazy.”
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