One Of Arie's 'Bachelor' Contestants Is BFFs With Raven Gates

The world is pretty small to begin with, and Bachelor Nation is even smaller. It seems that everyone knows each other and Season 22 of The Bachelor is no exception. One of Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s contestants, Tia Booth, is actually pretty close with former Bachelor competitor Raven Gates. So how do The Bachelor's Tia and Raven know each other? These two Bachelor contestants make adorable BFFs.

Usually, Bachelor alums from different seasons intermingle, but sometimes friends of former contestants can show up in new seasons. Tia is a 26-year-old from Arkansas and, while she's not from Hoxie like Raven is, the two are supposedly very good friends. Raven was runner-up last season trying to win Nick Viall's heart and now, Tia will be trying for love with Arie.

For viewers who need a refresher, Raven was on the last season of The Bachelor. The then-25-year-old was a fashion boutique shop owner in the small, small town of Hoxie, Arkansas. Ands since she was the runner-up, that meant Bachelor Nick was able to meet Raven's family and see Arkansas during their hometown date. Unfortunately, though, Raven ended up coming in second to Vanessa, and didn't get that Neil Lane ring from Nick. (Let's ignore the fact that Nick and Vanessa split up around six months later.)

Despite the fact that she lost, Raven seems to remain close to her Bachelor family. She's often seen with fellow alum on her Instagram, and also appeared on Rachel Lindsay's season of The Bachelorette.

She also got her happy ending, thanks to Bachelor Nation: Raven's engaged to Adam after meeting on Bachelor in Paradise (Adam was on Rachel's season of The Bachelorette). Now, Raven's spreading the love and must be encouraging her friends to get in on the action, because Tia is one of the 29 contestants on Arie's season of The Bachelor

Raven shared her joy on Instagram, saying, "I finally get to announce that I'm handing over my Bachelor baton to my BFF [Tia]." She also doled out some wise words to her friend: "My only advice: Just always remember you're not as bad as what your worst critic says you are and you're not as great as what your biggest fan says you are. Find the balance, enjoy the ride."

So who is Tia? According to her ABC biography, she is a 26-year-old physical therapist. Judging by her answers to these questions, I already like her. If she could be a fictional character for a day she would be "Olivia Pope because she's a badass." The best trip she's ever been on was to "Cancun to a random swingers resort. HA! It was actually fun" — I would love to hear the whole story about this one (maybe Arie will ask her about it during the season). Additionally, her favorite show is Shark Tank and if she were an animal, she would be a leopard. Unfortunately, Tia's Instagram is currently private, so there's only so much information known about her so far.

Seeing as Raven could be seen as a Bachelor franchise success story (as of now, anyway), she seems to have a lot of love for the show. Viewers have no idea how her BFF Tia will fare on it herself, but if her chemistry with Arie was like anything that Raven and Nick had, she'll probably go far in the show. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Arie implied that he fell in love with two women. "I really had strong feelings for more than one person," he said, "I'm very happy but it wasn't without hard times." Was one of them Tia? Did those hard times have to do with her? Only time will tell, but I do know that Raven will be in her corner the entire time.

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