A full-time fireman in Vail, CO, Ryan Sutter graduated to television heartthrob and national celebrity courtesy of his involvement in the first season of the ABC competitive reality program The Bachelorette (2003). The series had "bachelorette extraordinaire" Trista Sutter dating a series of eligible men, from which she picked Sutter as her "man of choice." The two married in December of that year, an event televised to off-the-wall ratings (some of the highest, in fact, in the history of the network). As might be expected, the media continued to swarm over the Sutters after they settled in Colorado and had their first child, a boy named Maxwell.
Prior to reality television involvement, Sutter did professional modeling and tried on several occasions to make the NFL draft as a football player, but none of his attempts proved successful. He did, however, make national headlines for participating as a contestant in the grueling Ironman Triathlon competition in Hawaii, in November 2004 -- an event that found him swimming 2.4 miles in the ocean, completing a 112-mile bike ride, and then embarking on a 26.2-mile marathon.