Former “Bachelor” contestant Melissa Rycroft has been charged with a second driving while intoxicated offense, two months after pleading guilty to her first DWI case.
Rycroft was arrested Sunday in Texas on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Tarrant County Jail records show that officers from the Southlake Police Department made the arrest, the same agency involved in her 2025 case. She is 43 years old.
The new charges include second-degree driving while intoxicated, driving with a prior conviction or suspension without financial responsibility, and collision causing damage to a vehicle valued at $200 or more.
Her bail was set at $9,000, and jail records indicate that she had not posted it. Rycroft was being held at the Tarrant County Corrections Center in Fort Worth. Her representative was contacted for comment.
Rycroft was arrested in September 2025 for driving while intoxicated. She spent eight hours in jail before posting a $1,000 bond and agreeing to appear in court. In August, she pleaded guilty to the charge and received a 20-month probation sentence, avoiding 280 days in jail. She was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and additional court fees, bringing the total to $2,087.
Rycroft became known after competing on Jason Mesnick’s season of “The Bachelor” in 2009. She became engaged to Mesnick during the finale, but he ended the engagement during the “After the Final Rose” special to pursue runner-up Molly Malaney.
She later competed on “Dancing With the Stars,” returning with partner Tony Dovolani for the show’s All-Stars season in 2012. The pair won the Mirrorball trophy, marking Dovolani’s first victory in 14 seasons. Rycroft later reunited with her former partner, Tye Strickland, whom she married in December 2020. They have three children.
Sources: Page Six.