Bachelor Travis Stork Is Back with Doses of Daily Advice

It's been almost two years since Dr. Travis Stork appeared on The Bachelor, when the show took him to Paris to find true love. He's since moved to Summit County, CO, where he's been practicing medicine, enjoying mountain biking and living, by all accounts, a very un-Bachelor life. This fall, though, the dimpled doc is back on TV — not to find a lady, but to impart his medical wisdom as one of the five expert hosts of The Doctors. The new, syndicated daytime show kicks off Sept. 8, and will give audiences a dose of daily — yes, Dr. Stork will be on five days a week — medical info via healthy dialogue with his fellow hosts, real-life stories of medical hardship and success as well as viewer questions and audience interaction.

As he dives into filming The Doctors this summer, TVGuide.com sat down with the doc over a couple of smoothies to find out what he's been up to, how his new show is shaping up and if one can really find love on TV…. Oh yeah, and is he still single? (Following the smoothies, he said he's "Still searching." Ladies, line up!)

TVGuide.com: We last saw you breaking hearts and finding love on The Bachelor. Can you catch us up on what you've been up to?
Dr. Travis Stork: I was a doctor before I was a "bachelor," and ever since I came home from Paris, I've been in Colorado practicing emergency medicine. Dr. Phil and his son, Jay McGraw, approached me quite a while ago with [The Doctors] concept, [saying] 'Our viewers are having so many medically related questions, which we're not able to answer.' So, I started coming on the Dr. Phil Show, helping give medical advice, and one thing led to the next.  And here we are, a year-plus later, with The Doctors about to start.

TVGuide.com: Why television? With all the work that goes into becoming a doctor, how did you end up on The Bachelor to begin with?
Stork: It was by mistake. I was at a restaurant after a shift one night with a number of the ER docs that I work with, and I was approached by a casting director for the bachelor randomly, and one thing led to the next. Not much more than a month later, I was in Paris. It was so fast and crazy, a whirlwind experience. It definitely took me out of my comfort zone. But my friends and my peers and my family encouraged me to take a chance, and I'm glad I did.

TVGuide.com: One thing that I heard Dr. Phil said when he pitched you the show was that you could help more people on TV than in the ER. Do you think that's true?
Stork: Unequivocally. I think that we have a chance to do something that no one has ever done before. In a really busy shift, I may see 30 plus patients. And in that shift, unfortunately, some people are so far down the path of illness, there's nothing you can offer other than a band-aid. In one show, I can talk to millions of viewers all at once. The idea of The Doctors isn't to replace individual physicians, but… some doctors only have three minutes to talk to their patients. It's meant to supplement what they're talking to their physicians about.

TVGuide.com: What is The Doctors going to be like, and how will the format go?
Stork: Our plan right now is to spend some portion of every episode on hot medical topics of the day. We have five doctors, all representing different specialties. We have a great dynamic between us, but a lot of medical hot topics are really argumentative. The majority of the show will be story-driven. That means we're going to have guests on the show, and we will cover everything from the most common illnesses to the most fascinating and unique illnesses that most people have never seen.

TVGuide.com: Is it going to be tough to have people accept you as a medical authority, versus a romance authority?
Stork: I've never positioned myself as a romance authority. I think people will quickly see that this is who I am. My goal with The Doctors is to share my experiences and knowledge. The Bachelor was a great experience, but it was six weeks of my life. So even though that's how people know me, it's such a small part of who I am. People will quickly realize that a much, much, much greater part of who I am is being an ER doctor.

TVGuide.com: Speaking of those six weeks, can people really find a relationship on television?
Stork: I think people watch because they're intrigued by the journey. The odds are obviously stacked against you because it's a fantasy world, but it's so compelling. Again, real life is very different. One of the things that The Bachelor taught me, though, is that you have to take chances in life. You never know when you're going to meet the person you're supposed to be with, whether it's at a coffee shop, on a hike. I don't think you should shut yourself off to possibilities.

For more features, news and inside scoop, check out the latest issue of TV Guide, which features a look at the Jonas Brothers and their new TV-movie, Camp Rock. Try four risk-free issues of TV Guide now!

 

Send your comments on this Q&A to online_insider@tvguide.com.