Melissa Rycroft has been arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in Tarrant County, Texas, for the second time in just over a year.
The 43-year-old former The Bachelor contestant was booked on Sunday, 1 November, in the county where she lives. The charges include driving while intoxicated, driving while her licence was invalid with a prior conviction or suspension and without financial responsibility, and causing a collision resulting in damage to a vehicle valued at less than 200 dollars.
Melissa Rycroft’s previous DWI case
The latest arrest follows a DWI case dating from October 2025. In August 2026, Rycroft pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 months’ probation rather than 280 days in jail.
She was also ordered to pay about 2,000 dollars in fines and court fees, complete 36 hours of community service within 120 days, take a DWI education course and undergo a substance abuse evaluation.
As part of the agreement, Rycroft was permitted to drive only a vehicle fitted with a camera-enabled ignition interlock device. She also agreed not to commit another offence and to abstain from the illegal use, possession or sale of controlled substances, marijuana or cannabinoids, as well as from consuming or possessing alcohol.
Following her October 2025 arrest, she said: “Life really sucks right now and I’m struggling, but I’m trying to march forward.”
Rycroft, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, appeared on the 13th season of The Bachelor. She became engaged to Jason Mesnick during the finale, but he ended the relationship during After the Final Rose to pursue the show’s runner-up, Molly Mesnick.
Rycroft married Tye Strickland in 2010. They have three children: daughter Ava, born in 2011, and sons Beckett, born in 2014, and Cayson, born in 2016.
