Next Bachelor is Arie Luyendyk, Jr — why did Peter turn down the gig?

Arie Luyendyk, Jr lost out on the Bachelor gig in 2015. Now the race car driver will handing out roses in January 2018.

For weeks, there has been speculation that Peter Kraus was picked to become the next Bachelor. Although the show’s creator, Mike Fleiss, dropped a number of hints that Peter was no longer in the running, we chose not to believe him.

ABC confirmed on Thursday that Arie, the runner-up from Emily Maynard’s season of the Bachelorette is headed to the Bachelor mansion. But, what happened to Peter?

“Fasten your seatbelt,” Fleiss tweeted hours before the announcement. Arie, 35, is a race car driver who also works as a real estate agent in Arizona.

Why didn’t Peter get the gig?

Two weeks ago, we learned  Peter turned down the offer to become the 2018 Bachelor. According to People magazine’s source, Peter was on Mike Fleiss‘ “sh*t list” because he didn’t propose to Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay.

Or maybe he was on the “sh*t list” because he said, “no” to Mike.

We were SO ready to watch Peter on Monday night’s this winter. Now we’ll be watching Arie find love, instead. Honestly, he’s easy on the eyes, so we’re fine with it.

We are trying to refresh our memory about Arie. Was he a good guy? We think so. But we do know this — he was better than Jef Holm, Emily’s final pick. He lasted a hot minute with her after cameras stopped rolling and we’re happy that Emily finally found love off-camera.

Arie was ready to be the Bachelor in 2015

Arie told Us Weekly he was prepared to be the Bachelor in 2015 when he was replaced by Chris Soules at the last minute.

It looks like Mike Fleiss decided to make good on his offer two years later.

He says his situation was similar to what Luke Pell went through when he was replaced by Nick Viall hours before the Bachelor 2016 announcement.

I just knew two days prior, but same deal [as Luke]: suit fittings; contracts that I signed, but they were delayed on signings on their end; booked flights. Maybe this is a common practice now to throw off fans — I don’t know.”

All of the confusion leading up to this season’s big reveal has many fans wondering why producers reached back two years to find the next Bachelor.

Bottom line, I’d bet my Peter Kraus poster collection that they did so because Peter turned them down.

[Featured Image via ABC]