‘Bachelor Alum’ Chris Soules Attends ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Taping Weeks After Sentencing for Fatal Car Crash

He’s making his way back into the public eye. Former Bachelor star Chris Soules went to a taping for the September 30 episode of Dancing With the Stars a little over a month after he was sentenced for his involvement in a 2017 car crash, Us Weekly reported. He was seen applauding in the audience of the competitive reality series that he competed in during season 20.

Soules, 37, was sentenced to two years probation on August 23, over two years after he was involved in a fatal car crash. In April 2017, Soules rear-ended a man named Kenneth Mosher driving a tractor and killed him. Although he called 911 and stayed on the phone for several minutes and checked Mosher’s pulse and breathing, he left the scene before the police got there but after emergency medical services started to arrive. He was later arrested in his home. The former reality star entered a conditional plea of guilty to leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury — an aggravated misdemeanor — back in November 2018. Now, it appears he’s slowly making appearances again, starting with his old DWTS stomping grounds.

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Not everyone was pleased to see Soules enjoying the show. “DWTS is wild … I’ve already spotted Chris Soules (why aren’t you in jail???) and half the cast of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” one fan wrote on Twitter. Another person said, “Is that Chris Soules??!!?!?? Ain’t that man supposed to be in prison?” Someone replied to that, “Nah he got a slap on the wrist.” Specifically, Soules was sentenced to a “suspended two-year term of incarceration” and a $625 fine as well as the payment of fees and court costs, and we can see why some fans might view that as lenient.

For what it’s worth, Soules said the accident changed his life. “The trauma of being involved in [the accident] is something I cannot describe,” he told People magazine in an interview published on September 4. “I think about it every day.” He admitted that after the accident, he got into a different truck and drove himself home because, “I was out of my mind,” he said. “I felt like I did everything in my power when I was there, and I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t know anything. I just knew it was really bad, and I was scared.”

Soules added, “I saw some dark times. I’m in the middle of nowhere as it is, and I was even deeper in the isolation and the guilt. I thought many times that it would have been easier on the other side … There is not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I could have done more or change the outcome of what happened. My outlook on life has changed forever.” Will Dancing With the Stars fans be willing to give him another chance?