Matt James Enjoys 'Bachelor' Status on Tyler Cameron's Boat

Matt James celebrated his new "Bachelor" status by hopping on a boat with buddy and fellow "Bachelor" Tyler Cameron and his female friend.

Matt was enjoying the R&R aboard Tyler's boat in sunny Jupiter, Florida.

As you know, "The Bachelor" has finally selected the show's next leading man -- the first African-American in that role in the 40 seasons.

Rachel Lindsay became the first black female lead on season 13 of "The Bachelorette" ... way back in 2017. It's clearly no coincidence ... Matt got tapped because of what's going on in the country and the world.

ABC said, "We know we have a responsibility to make sure the love stories we're seeing onscreen are representative of the world we live in, and we are proudly in service to our audience. This is just the beginning, and we will continue to take action with regard to diversity issues on this franchise. We feel privileged to have Matt as our first Black Bachelor and we cannot wait to embark on this journey with him."

The 28-year-old works in real estate, and was a football player at Wake Forest University. He tried unsuccessfully to make it on a couple NFL teams.