Travis Kelce once starred on a reality dating show. We watched it so you don’t have to

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's relationship has dominated headlines over the past few months — but it's not the first time a spotlight has shined on his dating life.

Kelce was once star of a reality dating show called "Catching Kelce" that aired on "E!" in 2016. The then-25-year-old was a newly signed star tight end on the Kansas City Chiefs and described himself as ready to settle down.

The seven-episode series followed Kelce's attempt to find love out of a pool of 50 eligible women, one from each U.S. state.

Though "Catching Kelce" is not more than a blip on the NFL player's career as an athlete and personality — "I don’t really look back on the ‘Catching Kelce’ era," he told WSJ. Magazine in October — his business managers mentioned it to The New York Times as part of a yearslong plan to make Kelce into a star.

So, in case you missed back in 2016, we watched the whole "Catching Kelce" series and can break it all down. Here's what we learned.

Where to watch ‘Catching Kelce’ episodes

If you're up for the challenge yourself, all seven episodes of "Catching Kelce" are available to stream on Peacock or can be purchased on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play or Apple TV.

Who was the ‘Catching Kelce’ winner?

Maya Benberry of Kentucky won Kelce's heart at the end of "Catching Kelce." Maya proved one of his early favorites and was chosen for the very first group date of the show in Episode Two.

Throughout the series, Maya called Kelce her "perfect guy." But she alienated some contestants with her cutthroat approach, as she viewed the rest of the participants as competitors to be beaten, including her closest friend, Lexi.

Kelce's confidant, his manager Aaron Eanes, also warned that Maya seemed too similar to his "ex," who was not named on the show.

At first, it sounded like Kelce wouldn't pick Maya, telling her that he went on "Catching Kelce" seeking a change.

"But even though my mind's telling me one thing, I got to go with my heart," he said, before naming Maya the winner.

The runner-up was Veronica Harwood from New Jersey. Kelce also expressed an early interest in Veronica during Episode Two and took her on the first solo V.I.P. date. During the finale, he said in a confessional that Veronica was the type of person he'd want to "settle down" with.

During the final elimination, Kelce revealed that Veronica represented the kind of "change" he thought he wanted for a future relationship. But his heart picked Maya.

Four women made it to the season finale: Maya and Veronica, as well as Avery Schlereth from Colorado (notably the daughter of former NFL player Mark Schlereth) and Lauren Schwab from Missouri.

'Catching Kelce' recap: Highlights from each episode

Episode One

The first elimination started less than seven minutes into the very first "Catching Kelce" episode. Each of the 50 contestants — all on a football field wearing red shirts with the names of their home states — had 60-seconds to introduce themselves to Kelce, one and a time.

“This is cage match, bar rules. They can do whatever they want,” Kelce explained. The intros included an awkward conversation about a cat, an impromptu dance performance, singing and a minute-long hug. More than half of the women were eliminated, with Kelce picking 20 people to continue on.

The pilot ended with an elimination of five more contestants — and a steamy kiss between Kelce and Rhode Island's Victoria to prove she's not "friend zone" material.

Episode Two

With 15 girls remaining, Kelce took six women on the first group date, but there's a twist. He picked one woman to invite on the date, and that contestant got to hand pick the rest of the group to join her. After that date, he then picked one girl to join him for a one-on-one activity. Each subsequent episode of "Catching Kelce" followed this format.

Kelce picked Maya for the first group date, an exercise commercial shoot. At the gym, Lauren from Missouri stole Kelce away for a pick-up basketball game and kissed him after a bet, but he ended up picking Veronica for the first V.I.P. date. Three women were eliminated.

Episode Three

During Episode Three, the contestants squared off in a game of two-hand touch football, captained by Kelce and his brother, Jason. Kelce picked "the star of the game" to lead the group date, a red carpet event, with him and three other contestants of her choosing. He chose Lauren, calling her confidence "sexy as hell."

Kelce chose Avery for the V.I.P. date despite his growing intimacy with Lauren and Jamie Leigh from West Virginia. He eliminated two women in the end.

Episode Four

With dwindling numbers, the contestants started to get competitive. Kelce picked two girls to lead the group date, a video game shoot, Lexi from Georgia and Loreina from California. Lexi brought her closest friend in the house, Maya, hoping she'd serve as her wing woman. Instead, he and Maya hit it off even more, and he picked her for the V.I.P. date.

At elimination, Kelce sent one person home.

Episode Five

In Episode Five, the women picked for the group date went with the football star to the Party Rock mansion, with LMFAO’s Redfoo appearing on the show. He picked Michigan's CeeCee and Victoria for the group date, but he connected more with Avery and Veronica at the party.

At the start of elimination, Victoria said "there's something's missing" and left the competition to the shock of Kelce and the other contestants. He also eliminated Loreina.

Episode Six

In Episode Six, four of the six remaining women went to a concert at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles to see Jessie James Decker perform. Decker, who is married to former NFL player Eric Decker, chatted with the women afterward to share her advice on the reality of being a WAG, aka a wife or girlfriend of an athlete.

“It is not an easy role, you have to be there 100%,” she said. “I could be doing my own career, but I’m going to Eric’s games. ... It is glamorous, but it’s not as glamorous as people think it is.”

He brought Veronica on the V.I.P. date and eliminated two women at the end, CeeCee and Lexi.

Episode Seven

By the finale of “Catching Kelce,” the tight end had narrowed down the competition to four women. Before the first elimination, he called his brother for help deciding.

Similar to Kelce’s manager’s advice, Jason Kelce told his brother that “the majority of your former girlfriends or the women that you’ve gravitated towards, Maya definitely fits that bill the most.” He also spoke up in Maya’s defense, calling her a “strong woman who is going to tell you how she’s feels.”

“I think that you honestly can use that a lot of the time,” he added.

Travis Kelce just laughed and said, “Nobody knows me better than me and my brother.”

He first eliminated Lauren, and the rest of the finale was spent in Kansas City. He took Avery on a solo date, but broke up with her before the next elimination due to the "barriers" she still had up. He picked Maya over Veronica at the final elimination.

What has Travis Kelce said about 'Catching Kelce'?

Kelce said in a February 2023 interview that, in hindsight, “Catching Kelce” was a “learning experience.” The lesson? He will “never” go back into reality TV.

“It was extremely awkward,” Kelce shared on “The Pivot.” He said he turned down the opportunity “100 times, is what it felt like.” When he heard that the format would be a contestant from each state, he joked it was “intriguing,” but still a no.

He was eventually swayed to do the show because of the financial offer presented.

“I was so bad financially my first couple years,” he said. “I literally went through my first couple checks like it was nothing. My season checks, all that. I was having so much fun, buying whatever the hell I wanted to do, going wherever the hell I wanted to.”

In the off-season, he said it got “so bad” at times that he was “avoiding the rent lady.”

“So I heard about the situation where I can make six figures in two weeks? I was like ... ‘This is actually starting to sound a little better.’”

He also had critiques for how he was portrayed on the show.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think I got portrayed as myself. There were a lot of things that just made me uncomfortable,” he said without elaborating out of respect for the contestants.

Now however, the show is the butt of some jokes between him and his brother. When Jason Kelce was asked about his brother’s then-rumored relationship with Swift in September 2023, he deflected by bring up the reality show.

“Ever since ‘Catching Kelce,’ everybody’s been infatuated with Travis’ love life, so I don’t really know what’s going on there. I know Trav is having fun and we’ll see what happens with whoever he ends up with,” he said, cheekily.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com