Minnesotan John Buresh is among 'The Bachelorette' contestants

One of the men competing on "The Bachelorette" grew up in Excelsior and graduated from the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas.

John Buresh, who now lives in New York, is among the 10 contestants still vying for Charity Lawson, a child and family therapist in Georgia, on the ABC-TV reality series. The 27-year-old is a data scientist and "the perfect combination of looks and intelligence," according to his cast bio. The show airs Mondays.

Introducing himself when the 20th season of the show debuted on June 26, Buresh gave Lawson a fortune cookie. "It's a little Chinese, a little American," he said. "I'm a little Chinese, a little American."

She read the fortune aloud, laughing: "'You will meet the man of your dreams tonight. His name is John.' "

"I'm just as shocked as you are," he said. "You picked a good one."

If he's not a match for Lawson, some fans hope Buresh might become the first Asian star of "The Bachelor." One host of the podcast "Game of Roses" — which treats the show as a competitive sport and has long advocated for more diversity among its stars — picked Buresh as her MVP of the first episode.

According to his Linkedin profile, Buresh works at an investment firm, which he does not name: "I direct the companywide Data Science strategy and partnerships with data vendors, and build regression models to analyze and predict the performance of healthcare stocks."

He graduated from St. Thomas in 2021 with a master's degree in business analytics and, before that, from the U's Carlson School of Management in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in business management.

A Carlson School publication notes that Buresh took an independent study course in Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation, where his mother grew up. He did a technology consulting internship there at PricewaterhouseCoopers Mauritius.

"My idea of Mauritius quickly changed as I figured out how close Mauritius is to the U.S. in terms of tech," Buresh said.

His cast bio also notes his love for the Harry Potter books, singer-songwriter Chelsea Cutler and a well-crafted negroni.

A few episodes in, Buresh shined during a group dodgeball date. After the game, Lawson told Buresh that she was surprised by how well he embraced it.

"Well, people don't know I played professional basketball for a year," Buresh said. (Some "Bachelorette" sleuthers believe that Buresh played ball while in Mauritius.) He asked Lawson if she grew up playing sports. (She did — cheerleading.) "So we've got the athletic genes going for us," he said, with a big smile.

They kissed, and later Lawson rewarded him with a coveted group date rose.

"With John, he really did show a different side of himself. And he did take the lead in initiating a little kiss," she told the camera. "So that definitely took me by surprise in the best way."