South Bay Banjo Player A Contestant On 'The Bachelorette'

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA – South Bay, meet the single man you wish you would've bumped into on the beach. Ryan Peterson, who lives in Manhattan Beach, will be a contestant on ABC's beloved dating show, "The Bachelorette." Peterson will be vying for the heart of Rebecca "Becca" Kufrin, a 28-year-old publicist from Minnesota.

However, he's already met her and made a pretty good first impression. On last season's "The Bachelor: After the Final Rose," Kufrin revealed she was heartbroken because Bachelor Arie Luyendyk dumped her after proposing to her on television. It was then announced that Kufrin would be next season's Bachelorette, and she met five of the hopeful bachelors – Peterson was one of the lucky five. He emerged from behind the stage with a banjo to sing a love song to Kufrin in front of an audience, and by the sounds of the high-pitched cheers that followed his performance, the girls seemed to like him.

Peterson is originally from the Boston area, but he now works in Manhattan Beach as a landscape designer and contractor, according to PopSugar. He went to Wentworth Institute of Technology and graduated with a BS in business management. Previous jobs include working as an implementation assistant at Circle Surrogacy, a surrogacy and egg donation agency, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Aside from playing the banjo, his neatly coiffed hair and dapper style add to the "quirky boy next door" style. Tune into "The Bachelorette," which premieres Monday, May 28 at 8 p.m. to see how your neighbor fares.

Main image via Youtube screen grab