Don't expect an old fan-favorite to become the next Bachelor because it has been announced that one of the men from Michelle Young's upcoming season of The Bachelorette will take the lead on season 26 of The Bachelor. Rumors have been swirling around that former contestants like Tyler Cameron from Hannah Brown's season of The Bachelorette or Greg Grippo from Katie Thurston's season might become the next lead, but ABC debunked those rumors.
On August 19, blogger Reality Steve tweeted that he was hearing Grippo was going to become the next Bachelor. Although the Bachelor Nation spoiler is usually right with his facts, the leads are never completely confirmed until ABC announces it themselves. Even though the 28-year-old was not on good terms with Thurston during After The Final Rose, fans on social media expressed that they still wanted to see him become the next leading man of The Bachelor franchise. However, people were still divided on their thoughts of him after Thurston accused him of acting on the show and gaslighting her. As a result, women for season 26 of The Bachelor were pulling out of the casting process when it was becoming more evident that they would be fighting for the final rose of Grippo.
Thurston's men won't be getting any airtime soon as it was announced that the next Bachelor will be chosen from Young's upcoming season. Us Weekly confirmed ABC's decision on Friday, even though the cast of The Bachelorette season 18 contestants have yet to be revealed to the public. According to the report, ABC will start filming The Bachelor season 26 swiftly after Young's season wraps up. The elementary school teacher will be handing out her final rose later this month and her highly anticipated season will premiere on October 19.
After news broke, Reality Steve tweeted that he, too, heard about the decision for the first time with the rest of the public. "I’m guessing it’s true. I’ll see if I can find out who it is," he tweeted. The blogger then jokingly added that his priorities currently lied with the start of the NFL season and was vacationing in Las Vegas. Fans chimed in on their thoughts in the comments. "Katie's season had no prospects. Greg was divisive with the audience, Michael A was still creeping on Katie on social, and Andrew didn't get enough TV time. And all of Tayshia's guys went to Paradise and hooked up," a Twitter user said.
Even though there has always been a great debate on who the upcoming lead should be for The Bachelor franchise, the people chosen are never really a surprise. It seems like for the past few seasons, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette leads have been chosen purely on what the fans want, which is great and all, but sometimes a surprise is good. And quite frankly, the past two Bachelors have been indecisive and boring.
Source: Us Weekly, Reality Steve/Twitter