Chace Crawford broke through with his role on Gossip Girl, but the soon-to-be Footloose remake star will be a household name after his selection as People's Hottest Bachelor.

Crawford beat out the likes of Twilight's Robert Pattinson, Star Trek's Chris Pine, Transformers star Shia LaBeouf, and Adam Lambert.

People offered a sneak peek at their interview with Chace from Friday's issue.

On his first kiss: "It was fifth grade. Her name was Kiley Smith and she was my best friend's twin sister. It was one of those super-awkward things. We were at camp, on a lake, really picturesque – it¹s kind of seared into memory! We're still friends."

On a perfect date: "All you need is a pool table, beer, an electric jukebox and good conversation. The day a girl beats me in a game of Beirut [a kind of beer pong] is a good sign!"

On being single: "I'm not not looking for a girlfriend – but I'm not particularly looking for a girlfriend, either. I'm not knocking having a relationship; at the end of the day, you want to share with someone. But I just look at it as, I have the rest of my life to do that. I'm not in any rush."

On dating Carrie Underwood: "I have nothing bad to say about that experience. It was awesome. I just didn't know how to deal with it. I learned a ton about dating someone in that kind of spotlight. It was such a whirlwind, but no regrets."

On the made-up gay rumors about him and co-star Ed Westwick: "You know what we really did the first time we heard it? Ed goes, 'Oh, did you hear that rumor about us being gay?' I was like, 'Yeah, man.' He starts laughing and we're kind of like, 'Okay, you want to go play pool and have a beer?'"

People's Hottest Bachelor issue will feature a full photo shoot and interview, and will be on newsstands Friday.