Yup, you read that correctly. Lucas Yancey, AKA “Whaboom”, one of the more memorable contestants from season 12 of ABC’s The Bachelorette, attended UC Berkeley from 2004 to 2009 and graduated with a B.A. in Legal Studies. I still think his “Whaboom” exclamations, and his fight with Blake E. over a banana are ridiculous, but I must admit, a degree from the #1 public university is not too shabby for a reality TV fame-chaser. While at Cal, Yancey played varsity rugby and was a member of the now disbanded Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Here’s a pic of him from the 2005-2006 Cal Rugby roster:
Yancey notes he was also involved in a mentorship program for underprivileged youth. His Linkedin page lists “Omega Beta Pi” as one of his activities and societies while in college, but no fraternity with that name exists, so perhaps he means the Omega (UC Berkeley’s) chapter of Beta Theta Pi. Interestingly, the Summer 2006 edition of The Beta Theta Pi Magazine recognizes Yancey as the winner of Delta Gamma’s March philanthropy event AnchorSplash. He earned the title of “AnchorMan” for being the best all-around Greek male in the talent competition. I can’t help but wonder if his talent back then was “Whaboom”.
On his official Facebook page on June 7th, Lucas Yancey made this rather redeeming post about donating the proceeds from the sale of his Whaboom shirts. Yancey expresses that his heart, and profits, go out to UC Berkeley sophomore and rugby player, Robert Paylor, who was injured and paralyzed during a match earlier this year. He ends the post with several hashtags, including “#GoBears” and “CalRugby”.
Yancey is yet another example of how, ahem, diverse UC Berkeley’s student body is. Love him or hate him, it seems Whaboom embraces his roots and is trying to make the most of his Bachelorette attention.