It’s the oldest story in the world. One day you’re watching Kelsey Anderson’s dad Mark on The Golden Bachelorette planning for the day he’ll find love again. And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, you’re stalking Barbara Alyn Woods’ Instagram page wondering if they’re an item. And maybe that day is today. And then that day is yesterday. And this is your life.
If you’re a One Tree Hill stan, that lede will hopefully hit. If you’re strictly here as a member of Bachelor Nation, welcome. And if your two extremely different interests are magically crossing over thanks to one jaw-dropping Halloween Instagram post, join the club!
We’re gathered here today because less than two weeks after America watched Joan Vassos say goodbye to fan-favorite contestant Mark Anderson, One Tree Hill star Barbara Alyn Woods (who played Nathan’s mom Deb Scott) unexpectedly posted an Instagram photo of her, her daughter, and the Golden Guy.
The photo, shared to Woods’ 131,000 Instagram on October 27, shows her dressed as Cinderella, her daughter Natalie Alyn Lind dressed as Yoda, and Kelsey’s dad Mark dressed as — wait for it — PRINCE CHARMING. If that wasn’t mindboggling enough, the caption reads, “When Cinderella and Prince Charming have a baby…????????????” which, made fans wonder if the reality TV star and actor were romantically involved.
“Deb and Mr. Anderson?!?!?” one caption says. “WAIT wait wait wait. What just happened,” another questions. “Is this a new couple alert??? Cause I am ON BOARD!!!! LFG!!!!!” an extremely relatable caption reads.
While it’s unclear if the two are officially dating or simply friends at the same Halloween party (whose costumes fit together perfectly), Mark’s daughter Kelsey further sparked romance suspicions by commenting “So cute????” on the photo. Both Kelsey and Mark follow Woods on Instagram, but Kelsey’s fiancé Joey Graziadei doesn’t appear to follow yet. It also looks like Mark hadn’t liked any of the actor’s posts before October, which could suggest that they met recently.
As Golden Bachelorette fans saw, Mark was eliminated in Episode 5 by lead Joan Vassos, who felt that although he had significant growth at the mansion, he wasn’t quite ready to move on from the loss of his late wife Denise, who died after a battle with Stage 4 breast cancer. Despite the early goodbye, Vassos told Decider that Mark was just as great a guy as he appeared to be on-screen.
“Mark is an amazing man. He’s like he was portrayed on Joey’s season. What a great family man. What a great father he is to all these kids. How encouraging he is, and how he guided his kids through look some really, really tough years. He is that exact person. He’s just solid,” Vassos told Decider over Zoom. “He has this really quiet and sturdy demeanor. He’s kind of soft-spoken and he’s very calming and just easy to be around, especially when you’re doing something this crazy and this intimidating. He was really good to bring you back down to Earth. And he was really easy to talk to — just an easy person to be around.”
As for Woods’ relationship status, she and husband of two plus decades, John Lind, filed for divorce in May. Per People, however, the two had been separated since November 2021.
So are Woods and Anderson dating? Is Woods a big Golden Bachelorette fan? Is Anderson a One Tree Hill guy? Or are the two just new friends? Only time will tell, but based on the response to their Halloween hard launch, we have a feeling fans would be rooting for them!
New episodes of The Golden Bachelorette air Wednesdays at 8:0 p.m. ET on ABC with next-day streaming on Hulu.