'Bachelor' Contestant Dies

Former Bachelor contestant Gia Allemand has passed away at the age of 29.

On Monday, the reality show contestant was raced to a hospital in New Orleans after "a serious emergency medical event," her publicist told the Associated Press. Allemand spent her last hours on life support, and according to TMZ, the cause of death was suicide, but these reports have yet to be confirmed.

Allemand was accompanied to the hospital by her mother and boyfriend Ryan Anderson, a basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans. Anderson found Allemand in her New Oreleans home on Monday.

"Due to a critical loss of brain and organ function, life support was withdrawn," the family statement says. "Ms. Allemand passed away peacefully with her mother, boyfriend, and other lifelong friends by her side."

During the indicent, Allemand’s friends took to twitter, asking fans to pray for their friend. Last season’s Bachelor Sean Lowe tweeted his condolences:

Jake Pavelka, who courted Allemand on The Bachelor up until the final weeks, also tweeted his grief, offering a Bible verse for those praying for Gia. He called Allemand “one of the sweetest people I ever knew.”

A second tweet said simply:

As a child Allemand appeared in commercials for Gerber and Johnson and Johnson. She was a ballet dancer, modeled for Maxim, and was an actress who took acting classes at the University of Hartford. AfterThe Bachelor, Allemand appeared on two seasons of the spin-off show, Bachelor Pad. Allemand finished third on her season of The Bachelor, losing her rose to Vienna Girardi, who tweeted this about the loss of her castmate: