Caroline Bryant
Editor-in-Chief
Students who tuned into this season of ABC’s “The Bachelorette” might have been shocked to see Florida Southern’s signature letter “S” appear on their TVs.
That iconic letter was featured on the shiny red cap worn in a photo of FSC swimming alum Thomas Nguyen ’14.
Nguyen swam as a Moc from 2010 to 2014, brought onto the team by previous coach Duncan Sherrard. Nguyen recalls being inspired by Sherrard’s vision and leadership, even before his commitment to FSC.
“We weren’t a very good swim team when we started, but the vision that he had was inspiring to me to come to Florida Southern,” Nguyen said. “My junior and senior year we were second at NCAAs, from having barely anyone qualify my freshman year to being second in the country my junior and senior year was awesome…”
Nguyen qualified for the NCAA II championships in backstroke, making the A final and placing in the top 10 for the 100 and 200-meter events during his senior year.
After graduation, Nguyen dove into the professional world of swimming. In 2014, he received dual citizenship to be recognized as a Vietnamese athlete– the country his parents hail from. He swam professionally for a few years, traveling between his home in Atlanta and Vietnam.
“I traveled over there twice and I was over there for several months, just kind of getting ready for meetings or meeting people I need to meet to do paperwork,” Nguyen said. “They made sure to take care of me when I was traveling back and forth…”
Nguyen even attempted to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but due to a left shoulder injury, he felt “a couple steps back” and didn’t qualify. Though his last meet as a professional was in 2018, he couldn’t stay away from the sport. He coached for SwimAtlanta until he transitioned to his current role in finance, substituting for coaches now and then whenever he gets “that itch to get back around the pool deck.”
Back as a permanent Atlanta resident, Nguyen would invite his sister to stay with him whenever she was on holiday from Emory University. On one of her vacations, Nguyen’s life, yet again, reversed from normalcy.
“One summer, she was like, ‘Thomas, we’re going to get you back out there. Let’s do the application ourselves’ So, she and I sat down one afternoon in the summer and did the application,” Nguyen said. “Then a couple of months later, ABC and Warner Brothers hit me up and said, ‘Hey, we’d like to have you on the show.’”
He was thrilled to have his sister involved in his experience and was even more excited when he learned he would be appearing on “The Bachelorette.”
“[It was] kind of chaotic, kind of nerve-racking,” Nguyen said in regards to not knowing who he’d be dating. “I watched “The Bachelorette” for a lot of seasons. One of my good friends Robby was on JoJo’s season, which was like six or seven years ago … All of the women there were awesome. They were stunning, they were intelligent, so I knew I was in good hands heading into the process…I was hopeful to find love.”
Since he applied before Joey’s season of “The Bachelor” aired, it wasn’t until he and the 24 other eager men were in Los Angeles to film that they learned Jenn Tran, the show’s first Asian American lead, was announced as the star of the season.
He was ecstatic. And after chatting with Jenn on the first episode, they connected about their shared Vietnamese heritage.
“Our mother’s stories are almost identical. Her mom dropped out of pharmaceutical school so she could take care of her family and give her kids a chance. My mom did literally the exact same thing,” Nguyen said. “My mom was in pharmaceutical school at Rutgers, dropped out, took on extra jobs to bring over her family from Vietnam to give us a shot at a better life.”
Having that conversation– and being the only Southeast Asian contestant on the season– boosted Nguyen’s confidence.
“It was an emotional talk. Not typically my first date conversation when I meet someone, but it was cool,” Nguyen said. “It felt organic to have that conversation with Jenn and I felt like our connection from our family standpoint was very deep.”
However, other men made stronger connections with Jenn, causing his elimination during the fifth week. Nguyen’s elimination didn’t catch him by surprise, as he felt “so many conversations behind.”
“Second rose ceremony, that thing with Devin, I didn’t get to talk with Jenn, my fourth cocktail party, I get cut off with Sam N. and I don’t get to talk to Jenn, so I felt like I was two, three conversations behind everyone else,” Nguyen said. “I hoped that she had a better connection, especially when you get to the final nine guys…and as she said herself, she saw us all as her boyfriends, so, when you get to that point, I knew my relationship wasn’t where it needed to be.”
Regarding the incident with Devin, Nguyen wishes he didn’t interrupt his conversation with Jenn to confront him. He apologized to her afterward.
“It came from a place of passion, it came from a place of Devin just being super disrespectful to all the other guys, so I wanted to say something, I wanted to speak up. The way that I went about it may have not been A+, but you know, hindsight is 20/20.”
His confrontation and bits of his portrayal on TV have left viewers upset with Nguyen. So upset, that they went to extreme lengths to let Nguyen know their feelings. On Aug. 7, he posted on Instagram that he’d received death threats and racial slurs since the show aired. But he’s not letting the hate get him down.
“There’s a quote, I think it’s Christian Bale that says, ‘If you have a problem with me, text me. If you don’t have my phone number, you don’t know me well enough to have a problem with me.’ So, that’s a quote I believe wholeheartedly,” Nguyen said. “People are going to have their opinions based off of 20 minutes that you see over five weeks, so that doesn’t really bother me that much.”
This unfortunate unrest also reignited his passion for mental health, especially for men.
“Mental health is something that I am very passionate about, especially men and mental health,” Nguyen said. “There’s definitely a weird stigma that it’s not manly to speak about your feelings or to get help with a therapist, or a counselor, or things like that. That’s something that I advocate and I have been for a really long time.”
That’s why Nguyen advises those who may face the same issue to always “embrace the person that you are.”
And to him, that person includes being a Moc.
