Jesse Palmer

Jesse James Palmer (born October 5, 1978) is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, and former professional football player who was a quarterback for five seasons in the National Football League (NFL) in the early 2000s.

Palmer accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1997 to 2000.

Palmer often alternated playing time with quarterback Doug Johnson, and, later, with quarterback Rex Grossman.

As a senior, he was selected as one of the team captains and received the Gators' Fergie Ferguson Award, recognizing the "senior football player who displays outstanding leadership, character and courage."

He finished his four-year college career with 3,755 passing yards.

He was named to the Southeastern Conference’s academic honor roll in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Palmer graduated from the University of Florida in 2001 with two undergraduate degrees: a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from the College of Business Administration.

Palmer was selected by the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) in the fourth round (125th overall pick) of the 2001 NFL Draft, and he played for the Giants from 2001 until he was cut before the start of the 2005 season.

As a Giants quarterback, he spent most of his NFL career as a backup behind starter Kerry Collins.

Palmer had been drafted by the Montreal Alouettes15th overall in the 2001 CFL Draft.

In 2002, Palmer played in two games.

The following season, Palmer played in six games, starting three.

Palmer was the second Canadian (after Mark Rypien of the Washington Redskins) to start at quarterback in the NFL.

Palmer was cast in 2004 as the bachelor on the fifth season of the reality television series The Bachelor.

He went on to become a college football analyst for ESPN/ABC in the United States, and has been a contributor to The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada.

He was also a contributor to ABC's Good Morning America.

In 2004, Palmer was the first professional athlete to appear on The Bachelor television program and the first non-American Bachelor.

After a four-year stint as a backup quarterback, he was cut on September 3, 2005, by the Giants.

He had entered the summer 2005 training camp as the backup to Eli Manning, but found himself odd-man-out when the Giants went with Tim Hasselbeck at number two and Jared Lorenzen at number three QB.

Attempting to locate another opportunity to stay in the NFL, Palmer worked out with the Minnesota Vikings and Oakland Raiders and was signed by the San Francisco 49ers on November 1, 2005, as injuries plagued their quarterbacks Alex Smith and Ken Dorsey.

Dorsey and Smith returned from injury three weeks later, and Palmer was released without having played a down.

His rights were still held by Montreal; however, the Ottawa Renegades tried to acquire the Ottawa native as their top quarterback in September 2005, and Palmer expressed interest in playing for his home town.

Palmer played college football for the Florida Gators under coach Steve Spurrier, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers in the NFL before spending half of the 2006 season with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Palmer was re-signed by the 49ers in March 2006 during the off-season, but was released on August 29, 2006, toward the end of training camp.

After leaving the NFL, he looked to the Canadian Football League for employment.

On September 11, 2006, the Montreal Alouettes signed him to their developmental roster.

Palmer did not dress for a game with Montreal.

He retired from the CFL before the start of the 2007 season to pursue a broadcasting career.

Since 2017 he has hosted the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network.

Jesse was host of DailyMailTV from 2017 to 2020.

In 2018, he hosted the kickoff season of The Proposal on ABC.

Palmer married model Emely Fardo on June 5, 2020, at a close friend's house in Connecticut.

In 2021, Palmer was named as the permanent host of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

Palmer was born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Nepean, Ontario, a suburb of Ottawa.

He attended both Confederation and St. Pius X high schools, although he played all of his amateur football on teams in the Ontario Minor Football Association and most importantly with the Ottawa Norsemen and Myers Riders Football Clubs in Ottawa.

His father, Bill Palmer, played seven years for the Ottawa Rough Riders.

His mother, Susan, was a prominent fashion and print model, co-founder of Barrett Palmer Models and former owner of the original ITM: International Top Models, a modeling agency and training centre located in Ottawa, which eventually became the current agency MIM Model International Management.

He has two younger brothers and attended a French-immersion school.

His brother Billy played tight end for the University of Notre Dame.

His cousin, Griffen Palmer is a country music singer and songwriter.