The New Bachelor Was Selected Over These Wild Card Possibilities

Now that Charity Lawson’s Bachelorette season has drawn to a close, it’s time to start looking ahead toward the remainder of Bachelor Nation’s calendar for the year — and it’s a busy one! Not only will fans return to the beaches of Mexico for Bachelor in Paradise Season 9, but they will also watch history unfold when the first-ever Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner, begins his journey for love after loss this fall.

But for many Bachelor Nation fans, there’s nothing bigger than The Bachelor proper. When the flagship show returns (likely in January, as it has for the past 15 years), who will be the next Bachelor?

The big reveal happened at Aug. 21’s After the Final Rose special, where Charity’s runner-up Joey Graziadei was announced as the Season 28 lead. However, the Bachelorette cast was open to other possibilities, too. “Obviously, we saw an emotional goodbye with Tanner [Courtad],” Charity previously told Bustle. “We didn’t really get to see a whole lot of him, but he is great. And then obviously John [Buresh] is just great. Great personality. He wishes everyone the best, and I want the best for him. So those are my two picks.”

In an interview with Minnesota’s Star Tribune, John said he would be down for either The Bachelor or Bachelor in Paradise. “One of my goals is to seek discomfort,” the 27-year-old data scientist said of looking for love on national TV. “When you get comfortable is when you stop progressing in life.” John also teased on a recent Instagram post that his “journey for love is far from over.” Hmm!

This definitely got several fans’ hopes up — but alas, it would have been very unusual for a contestant eliminated before the final four to become Bachelor, as Suzana Somers (aka @BachelorData) recently pointed out on Instagram. But the analyst added that it’s not unprecedented, with Clayton Echard and Juan Pablo Galavis both becoming the Bachelor after exiting their respective seasons in Week 6.

Brayden Bowers had his own dark horse pick for the next Bachelor, too. “I would put my boy James [Pierce] out there,” Brayden said. “I don’t feel like people really got to see all of him. He has so much depth to him as a person. But I think that he would make a stand-up Bachelor, and he would make whoever he ends up marrying very happy. He’s a good dude.” (Charity’s a fan, too, telling Bustle at the start of the season that she could have easily given James her first impression rose.)

But many fans correctly predicted that Joey would get the coveted lead role — and, well, the writing was on the wall. Charity choosing Dotun Olubeko meant that Joey, Xavier Bonner, and Aaron Bryant were all part of that coveted final-four pool that makes a Bachelor appointment more likely. However, with Aaron going to Paradise and Xavier ending the show on a sour note, Joey always had the best odds.