These Women Could Be 'Bachelor' Frontrunners

If you're a betting type, you probably approach each new season of The Bachelor with a critical eye, thinking, wondering if it's possible to guess who's going to win The Bachelor and Nick's heart? There's no way to know for sure who's going to win without watching the season or reading the spoilers, but ABC's reality competition does have several established patterns that suggest what could and will happen on the upcoming season. For example, you don't introduce a winner with a "wacky" entrance, the super-dramatic girl who cries early on will probably turn out to be a pot-stirrer who calls out everyone else for not being here for the "right reasons," and so on. Because of these cliches, it's possible to make educated guesses about who could go all the way.

But, before you can pick your winner, you have to go in thinking about this season from a Nick-specific point of view. He's the dude who came in second place in not one, not two, but three different outposts of the Bachelor franchise. This season is going to be all about his chance to finally get the girl. He's neither a corn-fed farmer nor a former bad guy who needs to change. No, Nick is a little quirky, soft-spoken, and, it must be said, well-versed in the TV romance game. Whomever wins his heart will have to be the same. Here are my top contenders from what we know so far.

Raven

She strikes me as the type of contestant who wins Nick over through her small-town sweetness. If Nick plays up his tragic Bachelor past, maybe the nicest girl in the bunch will be the woman to win his heart.

Vanessa

She has a past as an actor, she's currently staying quiet on social media, and she's a dark-haired Canadian, which we know is Nick's type (since he liked Kaitlyn Bristowe). I'd say there's a good chance she makes it to the end, though her lack of promotion of the season makes me wonder if she might actually get eliminated at the end. Or, maybe she's just trying not to spoil her happy ending.

Jaimi

Women of color don't often win The Bachelor. But Nick's cast actually has a good number of WOC (again, judging by the show's previous standards), so maybe this represents that the guy's heart and mind are open to the possibility. And when it comes to Andi Dorfman and Kaitlyn, whom we know Nick fell for, I think Jaimi has some free-spirited similarities to those two.

Rachel

She's an attorney from the South, Andi was an attorney from the South, maybe there's something here. Seriously, though, Rachel does seem to strike same balance between an assertive professional life and a lighthearted personal life, and she was recommended by Chris Harrison as one to watch.

Liz

Another Chris Harrison preseason tease — it will be revealed that Elizabeth already knew Nick before the season started. Since a similar situation landed Nick in Kaitlyn's final two, maybe this will be a secret that ensures Elizabeth's success.

Corinne

Based on her antics in trailers for the show, I'd say there's a low chance of her actually winning Nick's heart, but a pretty solid chance that she wins the producers' hearts and manages to make it suspiciously far in the competition. Plus, there's always a chance that Nick could pull a Jake Pavelka and accidentally pick the show's villain.

There's no guarantee that any of these picks are remotely accurate, but prognosticating is part of what makes The Bachelor so much fun.