‘Bachelorette’ contestant Julien Hug found dead in SoCal

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Julien Hug, who competed in Season 5 of ‘The Bachelorette’ and was reported missing on Monday, was found dead Wednesday morning off Highway 74 in Riverside County.

Hug was last heard from Monday before his cellphone went dead, his father, restaurateur Bertrand Hug, told San Diego’s 10News on Wednesday. The 35-year-old had been on the way from San Diego to Palm Desert to help manage the family’s newest restaurant; a missing persons report was filed and authorities had been conducting a search.

The body was found in a remote area near Pinyon Pines described by the sheriff’s department as a spot ‘you would need to hike into,’ according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The cause of death was not yet known.

‘I will always remember Julien’s gentle demeanor and kind heart, which will be sadly missed,’ Jillian Harris, the show’s object of desire in 2009, told TMZ.

“He was one of the most positive, selfless people I knew,’ castmate and friend Kiptyn Locke told Radar Online. Locke said he’d known Hug before the two were on the show.

[Updated, 1:55 p..m.: ‘My thoughts and prayers go out to Julien’s family. I speak on behalf of myself and the entire group from our season of The Bachelorette, that he was a great standup guy,’ said David Good, the ‘Bachelor Pad’ winner who competed on ‘The Bachelorette’ with Hug. ‘Julien was always the first to offer to cook food in the house and the one to offer up one of his ‘funny’ jokes that were entirely too long but hilarious nonetheless. He will truly be missed.’]

Hug was the second contestant to leave the show that season; Harris wound up getting engaged to Ed Swiderski, though the two broke up in July.

-- Christie D’Zurilla

The Associated Press contributed to this report.