Sounds like it's a hard-knock life for The Bachelor star Sean Lowe! The 29-year-old Dallas native is just one week into reliving his journey toward finding true love on the reality dating show, but the sexy insurance agent admits it was a tough process from the start.

"It wasn't an easy decision, because when the producers initially approached me, I was still getting over Emily [Maynard] and that was so emotionally taxing," he said in a recent interview with E! Online. "[But] I felt like I owed it to myself to give it one more chance."

Lowe met and mingled with 26 eager contestants on the season premiere this past Monday, Jan. 7, but going into the following week, he's narrowed the field down to 19.

"Sean is the real deal," a source tells Us Weekly about Shirtless Sean. "He is really Christian and a good guy."

On Monday night's premiere, Lowe fended off a very drunk hairstylist Ashley P. but gave a rose to wedding dress-wearing hopeful Lindsay.

"That one took me back. My first reaction was like,'I gotta get out of here. This girl's crazy'" he told E! of his initial reaction to her exit from the limo. "But after sitting down with her, I realized that she just has a really cool sense of humor and I can appreciate that."

Lowe will next try his hand at a variety of dates -- both one-on-ones and group dates -- with the remaining contestants, including one in which he goes shirtless to pose in a vampire-themed photo shoot.

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Sean Lowe: Being The Bachelor Is "Physically Exhausting and Emotionally Taxing"