‘The Bachelorette’s’ Nayte Olukoya on Trading Four Loko for His First Tattoo

This past fall, before the train wreck that was Clayton Echard’s season of “The Bachelor,” we got to watch Michelle Young find love as “The Bachelorette.” There were 30 eligible bachelors to choose from, but Young ultimately chose 27-year-old sales executive Nayte Olukoya as her final pick.

From the first episode onward, it was clear that Young and Olukoya had something special. Olukoya had earned the coveted first impression rose night one, which has frequently led to engagements in past seasons of “The Bachelorette.” On December 21, it was announced that Young and Olukoya were engaged and on the show’s After the Final Rose special, the couple was given a $200,000 down payment for their first home.

In addition to winning over Young’s heart, Olukoya won over Bachelor nation. He was an early favorite, both for his chemistry with Young and for his burgeoning tattoo collection. Tattoos aren’t exactly common within this franchise, however, it seems that the show is more lenient with its male contestants, such as season 15’s Mike Johnson. Olukoya was easily one of the most tattooed contestants on Young’s season and he shared with us that Young has a thing for tattooed guys.

We sat down with Olukoya to discuss his ill-fated first tattoo, his most recent piece and whether we’ll be seeing him get a matching tattoo with his bride to be. Take a look at our interview with Nayte Olukoya of season 18 of “The Bachelorette” and let us know your favorite tattooed contestant from this franchise in the comments section on social media.

Tell us about your first tattoo experience.

Long story short, I was in college and a friend of mine had a roommate with a tattoo machine. He was giving out tattoos and I got one. I paid him with two cans of Four Loko and that was it. The tattoo was a hand drawn cursive “O” for my last name, Olukoya. It’s pretty bad.

Did it end up looking how you wanted it to?

Oh yeah, it was exactly how I drew it. It took me like five minutes to draw, but I got it covered up. Now I have this heart rose that’s bleeding down on my sternum, which is what I used to cover it all up. I had a couple more things there and I’d gotten a whole bunch of random tattoos all in the same area. So it was easy to cover it up.

Did you get any more tattoos in your dorm room?

I got the Eye of Horus from the same guy but I actually kept that one.

What was your first experience in a tattoo shop like?

My first time in a shop was my coverup and it was a cool experience. But the tattoo was on my sternum so it hurt like crazy. The dorm room tattoos made for good memories but at the end of the day, you want to have something that actually looks good. Especially with the tattoos I had, they were all clustered around my sternum and they just looked like crap. So I was like, “Let me go ahead and get this fixed up real quick.”

Did you tattoo anyone in the dorm room?

No I did not, thankfully. (laughs)

Where did your tattoo collection go from there?

From there, I had another buddy who was kind of this nomad. He would jump from college town to college town, sleeping at somebody’s apartment and tattooing a lot of athletes on campus. My roommate was really good friends with him and he actually stayed at our house for a while. He was my main tattoo guy and we’d bounce ideas off of each other. I got my back done by him, my side done by him and slowly but surely my tattoos started coming together.

As I got older, I got more tattoos and they started flowing. But for a while there, it was just random big pieces all around my body. I’ve slowly pieced things together but my collection still has a lot of work from where my end goal is.

What’s your favorite tattoo at the moment?

My favorite tattoo at this point would have to be the tattoo I got like two or three weeks ago. I got the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo DaVinci tattooed on my bicep and I got it for my mom. One of the earliest memories I have is of me, my brother and my mom watching movies in her bed growing up. One of the movies that we all really enjoyed watching together was “The DaVinci Code” with Tom Hanks. At one point, she’d gotten this shower curtain of the Vitruvian Man but she didn’t like it and she gave it to me when I was probably eight or nine. I’ve actually had this shower curtain in every single house I’ve ever lived in and I’ve moved about a thousand times.

What was your process of finding the right artist for this piece?

My artist’s name is Oscar Jordan and he’s here in Austin, Texas. He’s one of my buddy’s buddies and he’d already done my shoulder and my chest. After he did the Vitruvian man he also did the hands from The Creation of Adam that I have on my forearm.

What did your mom think when she saw the tattoo?

She actually had no idea the Vitruvian man meant so much to me. I don’t even know if she knew that I kept the shower curtain with me for so long. But when I told her that I got it for her, she thought it was really sweet. She loves tattoos as well.

Do you have any other tattoos for your family?

I have this whole family tattoo on my thigh. My mom, my brother and I all have matching tattoos on our thighs. It’s our Scottish family crest from my mom’s side of the family.

Do any of your other tattoos have a personal meaning?

A lot of them are things to live by. I have a quote on my forearm that says “There’s nothing worse than a regret filled coffin” and that’s just how I like to live my life.

How did your family react to seeing all of your tattoos on TV?

Both my dad and stepdad are really anti tattoos, so neither one of them knew I had tattoos until the episode came out. Both of them had very similar reactions to seeing me without a shirt for the first time with all of these tattoos. My stepdad joked around with me but he was cool about it. He said that if I was younger he’d found out he’d be a little bit more upset. He joked around and said he’s team Joe (Joe Coleman was one of the three finalists in Michelle Young’s “The Bachelorette” season).

My sister told me that my dad’s initial reaction was yelling holy shit at the TV and then he asked me if Michelle is into tattoos or not. I said, “Yes she likes them” and he hasn’t really said anything about it to me since. I think my dad might still be trying to process the fact that I have all of these tattoos.

Did any of your fellow Bachelorette cast member’s tattoos stand out to you?

Martin has some pretty cool tattoos. I think he has a tattoo of his sister holding his grandpa’s face when she was a kid. He also has a cool Superman tattoo on his calf. We did speak a little bit about tattoos while filming.

Any plans for tattoos that commemorate “The Bachelorette” experience?

I might have to throw a rose in there. I do already have two rose tattoos on my body, but maybe I’ll get a color one.

Do you think you’ve inspired Michelle to get her first tattoo?

When we first met she said that she’s always liked tattoos but she could never imagine herself getting one. Then a couple of weeks ago she was like, “I’m thinking of maybe getting a really, really small tattoo.” So she might get one one of these days but who knows? If I put my money on it I doubt she’s gonna get a tattoo, but we’ll see.

Hypothetically, if you two were to get a couple tattoo, what would it be?

I don’t know, that’s a good question. I’d have to put some thought into that. I’d just pick something stupid because it’d be funny and everybody has one or two stupid tattoos. But seeing as it’d be Michelle’s first tattoo, let’s have it not be stupid.

What about tattoos for your dogs?

We could get our dogs. It’s funny that you say that because last night I was thinking about getting a portrait of my dog Percy’s face.

Lastly, I just have to ask. What flavor Four Loko did you trade for your first tattoo?

Knowing me, it was probably the green and red can or whatever the watermelon one was. I have the worst Four Loko horror stories from my freshman year of college. So it honestly isn’t surprising that I bought my first tattoo with two Four Lokos.

They weren’t serving Four Loko at the Bachelor mansion?

No, hell no.

They should change that. Obviously that needs to be on television.

Maybe your next tattoo should be a Four Loko tattoo.

I was about to say hell no, but if it was a really small one that was hidden, I might do it. It;s funny and everybody needs stupid tattoos. I don’t think anyone should take their tattoo selection that seriously and everyone needs a stupid tattoo. Or maybe two or three.