‘Bachelor’ Creator Confirms Important Detail for Next ‘Bachelorette’

Bachelorette roses

ABC. The Bachelorette's roses.

Fans of “The Bachelor” franchise have seen a lot of leading ladies over the past year. There have been four Bachelorettes — Clare Crawley, Tayshia Adams, Katie Thurston, and Michelle Young — in the span of just 15 months.

But another lucky lady will soon be doling out roses to some two dozen suitors, and according to the showrunner, she will be a familiar face to fans of the franchise.

Here’s what you need to know.


‘The Bachelor’ Creator Teased the Identity of the Next Bachelorette Star

ABC

For years, “The Bachelor” franchise used a predictable formula that featured a contestant from the previous cycle of the show as the next season’s lead. That changed when franchise newcomer Matt James was named as ”The Bachelor” for 2021.  Between the casting switcheroo and COVID-19-related production delays, it has been a bumpy ride for Bachelor Nation.  There were even back-to-back Bachelorettes last year with multiple seasons filmed in a pandemic bubble. But things appear to be getting back to normal.

As the January 24 episode of Clayton Echard’s season of the ABC dating show aired, showrunner Mike Fleiss posted a cryptic note to Twitter to tease fans.

“Hey, #Bachelornation, keep an eye out for a potential #TheBachelorette!!!” he tweeted as the episode aired.

Fleiss’ teaser was a hint that one of Echard’s ladies will be the next star of “The Bachelorette.” Fleiss then added another cryptic tweet.

“Not sure what it is, but there’s something about Shanae that I really like… #TheBachelor,” he added, referencing one of the “villains” on Echard’s season.

Several fans replied to say that the season 26 troublemaker “better” not be the next Bachelorette. Others suggested more popular options from Echard’s season, such as Susie Evans or Gabby Windey.


Mike Fleiss Loves to Tease ‘Bachelor’ Fans

This is not the first time that Fleiss has teased “Bachelor” fans. Ahead of the announcement for Echard’s casting, he tweeted, then deleted, a major spoiler about the identity of the season 26 lead. In 2021, a Reddit user shared a photo that “The Bachelor” creator posted then removed from his social media. The pic featured camera shots of Echard talking to host Jesse Palmer on the set of the ABC dating show.  Another Redditor claimed that Fleiss wrote ”Whoopsie” when he posted the pic.

In September 2021, he posted a teaser similar to the one he just posted about the upcoming “Bachelorette” season.

“Major Announcement!!! Your new #TheBachelor is a great guy from Michelle’s season of #TheBachelorette. Can’t wait for you to meet him,” Fleiss wrote on Twitter last fall.

“Another Major Announcement!!! His first name starts with the letter ‘C.’ #TheBachelor,” Fleiss added.

While that teaser was a truthful one, longtime followers know that Fleiss doesn’t always come through. According to Refinery 29, he once trolled fans with a post that promised that “Bachelor In Paradise” would potentially be filmed at Mar-A-Lago and Donald Trump would make a cameo.

He has also regularly tweeted “shocking news” teasers, only to have no real news to report.

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