ABC/Craig Sjodin Pictured: Mike Johnson
Bachelor In Paradise is well underway, meaning a new season of The Bachelor is just around the corner. And already, fans are on the edge of their seats, waiting to see who’s going to be the franchise’s next star. Could it be Peter Weber? Mike Johnson? Or someone from another season?
Here’s what we know:
On August 26, People reported that the top contenders for the next season of the show are Mike Johnson, Derek Peth, and Peter Weber.
Johnson hails from San Antonio, where he works as a portfolio manager. The second he was sent home on The Bachelorette, fans began campaigning for him to be cast as the next star of the reality series.
Chris Harrison seems to think Johnson would be a great lead. He tells People, “Of course he’s a contender [for Bachelor]. How could he not be a contender with that smile? He’s one of my favorite people we’ve ever had on the show. He’s a love of a man. I don’t know him that well, and I consider him a really good friend.”
Rachel Lindsay seconds those notions, telling People, “I’m a huge proponent for Mike to be the next Bachelor… I say it anytime I get a platform to talk about it. I just feel like they haven’t had a person of color, well, they had Juan Pablo — they never had a black male lead before.”
Sadly, Bachelor Nation’s Wells Adams doesn’t quite think Johnson is ready to take on the title of the bachelor. Adams recently told Entertainment Tonight, “For Mike, I don’t really know… I think he would be a great Bachelor. He’s got a million-watt smile, he’s tall as a house. And he’s a veteran. Nothing but mad respect for him,” he continued. “[But] I think what people fail to grasp is you have to build a show around that person, and I don’t know if he’s ready for it, just in terms of the spotlight being on him that much. And the only reason I say that is because when you watch back, he’s just not on the show a lot.”
But what’s all this we hear about Derek Peth? According to ScreenRant, fans are rooting for Peth to become the next bachelor, especially after the heartbreak he’s experienced on this season of the show. At the top of the season of BIP, Peth was in a relationship with Demi Burnett. However, Demi eventually admitted she couldn’t stop thinking about the girl she left back home, Kristian, and now that Kristian’s on the show, Derek’s left by himself. In an interview with US Weekly, Kristina Schulman called Peth, “emotionally intelligent, sensitive, sweet, and understanding,” and it seems that viewers agree, and are vying for him to step into the spotlight as the show’s star.
Adams also seems to be a huge fan of Peth; he recently took to Twitter to write, “#derekforbachelor Appreciation video for my roommate on the
@BacheloretteABC. My bourbon drinking buddy. My bestie from the TV world and honestly the one of the best guys I’ve ever met. We don’t deserve @pethderek.”
How will it all pan out? Be sure to look out for the official announcement from ABC about who the next star of The Bachelor will be.