‘The Bachelor’ Contestant Cristy Caserta Dead at 38 After Apparent Seizure

Bachelor contestant Cristy Caserta died unexpectedly Thursday after suffering an apparent seizure, TMZ reports. She was 38.

Law enforcement sources told the news outlet that Caserta, who appeared on season 15 of the ABC dating show in 2011 with Brad Womack, was attending a class at a school in Sunrise, Florida when she fell forward at the desk where she was sitting. She reportedly went into cardiac arrest as emergency responders arrived and administered CPR.

She was transported to nearby Westside Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Police say they do not suspect that foul play or narcotics played a role in her death, as it appears she died of a result of the sudden seizure. An autopsy will reportedly be conducted Friday.

A spokesperson for the Sunrise Police Department confirmed to E! News that Caserta died at the hospital following a seizure.

Reality Steve discussed the news on Twitter, calling her his friend.

“Sick to my stomach to see that Cristy Caserta from Brad Womack’s 2nd season, has suddenly passed away. Cristy was always there to give me legal advice in the past. I’m at a loss after seeing people post on her FB. Just spoke a couple weeks ago. RIP my friend,” he wrote Thursday night.

Fans of The Bachelor will remember that season 15 was Womack’s second attempt to find love and that he eventually chose Emily Maynard. Caserta was sent home during the show’s first week.

Caserta, an attorney, was working as corporate counsel at MedPro Healthcare Staffing in Sunrise, Florida, according to her LinkedIn profile. She had worked there for 10 months before her sudden death. When she was a contestant on The Bachelor, she worked as an attorney in Fort Lauderdale.

“When I first started practicing, I was at a larger firm, and then about two years in, I started the firm with the guys that let me take off to go on the show,” she told The Ringer in 2017. “So we were a smaller firm, which made it a lot easier. I had been with them since I was a law clerk, so I had a personal relationship with them as well, and they said as long as I was serious going into it and it wasn’t something I was just doing for fun or to BS, and that I actually wanted to go on to meet somebody, that they would be willing to give me the time off.”

Caserta isn’t the only Bachelor contestant that has died an early death. In 2013, Gia Allemand from season 14 died from brain damage after a suicide attempt.

The Bachelor returns on January 7, 2019 on ABC.