A rose by any other name: Sporting KC’s Salloi will be Kansas City’s ‘Bachelor’

With a look that could melt butter sketched upon his face, Sporting Kansas City defender Jaylin Lindsey approached teammate Daniel Salloi with an expectant look. His hands outstretch, he walked toward Salloi in the middle of a crowded room.

In response, Salloi handed Lindsey a bright red rose and the pair embraced in a hug.

“I was just telling him to just pretend to give me a rose and I was trying to tell him how the actual show works,” Lindsey said soon after, smirking at Salloi, whose rose sat on the table next to him.

The show? ABC’s The Bachelor. Salloi’s been selected as “Kansas City’s Bachelor” as the hit TV series heads on the road for a production called The Bachelor Live on Stage.

The Bachelor is on a nationwide tour that began in February and arrives in Kansas City on March 12. Salloi will take to the Midland Theater stage in front of a live crowd and proceed to eliminate one by one a panel of 10 women through a series of games, challenges and onstage “dates.”

The show will be hosted by Season 20 bachelor Ben Higgins and Season 22 winner Becca Kufrin.

When all is said and done, Salloi will hand his rose to the last lucky lady remaining before they ride off into the sunset together. Hopefully, his lighthearted practice run with Lindsey Tuesday afternoon will give Salloi enough practice for the final handoff of the symbolic flower.

Truth be told, though Salloi is poised to be the focal point of next month’s show, he wasn’t the one who applied for the opportunity.

“I got an email saying I was one of the finalists. I thought it was a scam or something,” he said.

As it turns out, a group of Salloi’s teammates, along with the Sporting KC public relations team, applied behind his back on his behalf.

“There were a couple of us that wanted him to do it, and sure enough now he’s the actual guy,” Lindsey said. “So good for him to get out there.”

Predictably, the Sporting KC winger has been getting a lot of grief about this from his teammates, including close friends Lindsey and Gianluca Busio. The pair will be sitting front and center for the event, helping him pick the right girl while also poking fun and trying to make him laugh.

One man who isn’t getting involved in the antics is coach Peter Vermes, who’s leaving all of it to “those young guys to deal with.”

“I don’t watch it, unfortunately,” Vermes said. “I don’t really watch (TV). If I’m going to watch something it’ll be a movie or a documentary, and a lot of times it’s late at night and I’ll fall asleep to that.”

Vermes said assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin was once asked to appear on the full TV iteration of the show. He quickly declined after realizing he had to propose at the end.

Salloi won’t actually be forced to propose to his chosen girl after the two-hour production.

“Just to be fun and enjoyable — for the people who attend, for me, for the girls,” Salloi said of his expectations. “And in the girls, just some fun girls who like to open up and talk about themselves, and to enjoy the night and hopefully I get to meet some cool ladies.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A rose by any other name: Sporting KC’s Salloi will be Kansas City’s ‘Bachelor’."