Nick Viall, a UWM alum, will star in the next season of the reality TV show “The Bachelor,” starting in January 2017.

Viall, who earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UWM in 2004, is getting to be a regular in the “Bachelor” universe. He competed on “The Bachelorette” in 2014 and 2015, finishing as a runner-up both times. He was also featured on the third season of the reality show “Bachelor in Paradise,” which just wrapped up. (He broke up with his girlfriend on that show in the last episode.)

“I think it’s going to be great, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said when his selection was announced. “I’m very nervous, but I can’t be more excited about the possibility of it actually working out.”

Viall is the second oldest of 11 siblings and grew up in Waukesha, graduating from Waukesha North High School.

At UWM, he was captain of the track team, running one leg of the 4×800 meter relay in a then-school record time of 7:33.94.  (His sister, Maria Viall, was also a UWM athlete, playing basketball.)

“(Viall) has just become that perennial, second-place guy who wants to find love and is as sincere, if not more sincere, than anybody about finding it,” show host Chris Harrison told People magazine. “It’s about giving him his chance to find love. Who deserves it more than him?”