Who will be our next Bachelorette? Here are the top contenders!

Clare Crawley

A dark horse was recently thrown into the rumored lead mix – Clare Crawley. While the source information was…mediocre at best (they claimed she was to be surprised on the Ellen show, which made zero sense then, and is officially debunked with the GMA news now), Bachelor Nation has been vocalizing their support for Juan Pablo’s season 18 runner-up.

New viewers might not know who Clare is – we’ll get to that later – but in sum, she was a contestant on the worst Bachelor season of recent memory, followed by a stint on seasons one and two of Paradise, with her last appearance on the flop that was Winter Games. She actually was briefly engaged post-Games to The Bachelorette: Canada’s Benoit. Though the engagement was seemingly out of nowhere, it was sad to see the breakup nonetheless.

Clare would essentially be a marriage of Tia and Tayshia: she had a raw, fiery nature in her legendary Juan Pablo breakup speech, but brings a sweet, warm presence as well. She would certainly be a mature choice at 38, but is that necessarily a bad thing? It certainly doesn’t seem to be working out for the 23-year old contestants of late.

However, Colton’s season of The Bachelor brought a much newer crop of viewers into Bachelor Nation; a large portion of the audience may legitimately have zero clue who she is. To be fair, the same could be said about the Arie pick, but that was more ABC dropping the ball on who would’ve been the hottest lead of all time (call me, Peter K.). I’m just not sure she’ll connect with the majority of viewers if nothing else for familiarity purposes alone.

That said, there’s certainly been an uptick in vocal Clare support as of recent. There would be no question of authenticity if they were to go out on a limb and make her the next lead. She would be ready for the task and has the Bachelor Nation experience to back it up. If that’s indeed the case, I will accept nothing less than 15 hot tub appointment references. If you’re a new viewer, who has no idea who Clare is, that Winter Games scene is a must-watch.

Bachelor Nation supporters: Ashley Iaconetti (strong support at that), Jared Haibon

There you have it, folks. Unless they surprise us with Kelsey, we’re likely seeing Tayshia, Tia or Clare as our next lead. I’m not mad about it either way.

Are your predictions pointing to a sleeper choice? Could you see one of these three landing the role – if so, who’s your pick? Share your thoughts!