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Joplin native stars as 'The Bachelor'
Virginia Fairchild

City Editor

While flipping through channels on the tube, Joplin residents now have the option to watch one of their own.

Aaron Buerge, Joplin High School graduate and former international business instructor at Missouri Southern, stars on the weekly ABC program, "The Bachelor."

Despite his newfound stardom, the bachelor's dad, Alden Buerge of Joplin, said the show hasn't changed his son's personality but has been beneficial.

"With two brothers and his mother and I around? We're not going to let his personality change; it's not gonna happen," Alden said. "He has used this as an opportunity to help people and raise money for worthwhile causes."

Recently, Aaron received an invitation to an 11-year-old's birthday party. He couldn't make the party, but surprised the girl, who had cancer, and her pals by calling her home the evening of the celebration. He wished the birthday girl a happy day while chatting it up with all of her buddies on the telephone.

"My lifestyle is definitely more interesting," Aaron said. "I won't let it go to my head."

The Bachelor, which is in its second season, enables a selected guy to pick a bride from 25 women. The show is filmed over a seven-week period. Each week the bachelor eliminates a predetermined number of females from the group, slowly reducing it to the chosen few. Every hour-long episode contains footage of the dating process and different tactics the program uses to allow the bachelor to get to know the women and make an educated decision on his ideal mate.

Aaron has narrowed his pool of women down to two: Brooke and Helene. In the upcoming episodes, he will take the women to meet his family and make the final elimination.

Aaron, senior vice president of the First National Bank in Springfield, is the oldest of three brothers. He was born in Butler, Mo., and attended Joplin High School where he played soccer, ran track and was an All-State swimmer. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1997 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. He went on to earn an MBA in international finance from Clemson University. During this time, he studied in Italy. In 1999, Aaron taught International Business at Southern.

Aaron's parents found out their first-born was going to be on the show through a friend of the family.

When he asked his son about the show, Alden said; Aaron replied, "How'd you guys know about that?"

"When we finally got word that he was the bachelor, that was really cool," Alden said. "But then as a parent you start having mixed emotions; you have parental concerns. You want to make sure it's a positive thing."

To put the parents' concerns at ease, the show s executives took Aaron and his parents to dinner.

"They did a pretty good job of putting our concerns to rest," Alden said. "We felt pretty comfortable with it at that point in time."

He said his and his family's lifestyles have not been affected much by his son's popularity.

"I just can't talk about who the winner is," Alden said. "It really hasn't changed our lives or anything. It's created a lot more conversation.

It's a feeling of immense pride to see your son on stage, handling himself very well, behaving like a gentleman and showing the sensitivity that he has. These are emotional issues that he's dealing with. As parents we're hoping that he doesn't misstep or say something wrong or anything like that."

The Bachelor concluded taping Sept. 6. Aaron said for the most part the process was portrayed accurately. He said he is still seeing the "chosen one," but their time together is limited since they can't be seen in public as a couple.

Aaron s family knows the outcome to the show, so Alden said that relieves some of the tension of watching.

"It's amazing to me to see how people react to a TV show," Aaron said. "TV is more dramatic than it (real life) really is."

He said he has no regrets about being on the show or about his final decision.

"Once this is over, some degree of normalcy will return," Alden said. "I think Aaron sees this as a temporary celebrity status, and once this is all said and done, he will continue to work at the bank, and I think he will continue to be a very successful banker in Springfield."

Even though Aaron's heightened celebrity status has made him a star, the former Joplin man hasn't forgotten his roots.

"Great food and great people, it's why I'm so proud I'm from the Midwest," he said.