‘Finding Prince Charming’ Hunk Chad Spodick Dies by Suicide at 42

"Finding Prince Charming" alum Chad Spodick has died at 42, and the details that emerged this week are shockingly grim. TMZ obtained the 911 audio revealing that Chad died by hanging himself from a tree in the backyard -- and it was his mother who discovered his body and called police.

The Boca Raton PD confirmed it was suicide, though the case remains open. What isn’t in question is the shock ripple his death has sent through his circle: friends set up a GoFundMe that has now raised nearly $30,000 to help his mom, Felice Harwood, cover funeral costs and the sudden mess of bills that follow a selfish act like this.

Chad seems to have been one of the lookers from that 2016 gay dating show among the 13 men vying for Robert Sepulveda Jr.'s attention. (I didn't tune in, but others have described him as a "quick-witted flirt.") 

But his time on the show took a sharp turn. Chad voluntarily walked off in Week 6, two episodes before the finale, after the season erupted in controversy over Sepulveda's previously undisclosed past as a hooker -- a biographical detail I broke at the time.

Chad later said the association with the show cost him his real estate job, and he publicly accused Sepulveda of pursuing him and several eliminated contestants after filming wrapped -- even though the finale crowned another winner. (Go figure!) 

Friends say Chad was even better off-camera -- a giver, a cheerleader, an animal-obsessed softie with four dogs and a bird named Cosmo.

A sad, sudden end for someone who by all accounts was loved, as demonstrated by the way people are rallying around his family.

Previously: Meet Instagram hunk Chad Spodick