SPOILERS ahead on The Bachelor 202, aka Bachelor Peter Weber's Season 24.
This week on The Bachelor 2020, Victoria Paul had a strong showcase, leading many fans to immediately push Victoria P. forward as a candidate for The Bachelorette 2020. After all, only one -- if that -- woman will end up with Bachelor Peter Weber. And only one is likely to be named the next Bachelorette. (Several others will show up on Bachelor in Paradise, which is probably the real reason they are on the show, beyond wanting more Instagram followers.)
However, there are a couple of spoilers twists that might affect Victoria P.'s chances of being The Bachelorette. I don't know if they'd help or hurt, to be honest.
1) She's reportedly pulled into the Alayah drama once again, during Alayah's return to the show; Bachelor Peter sits Victoria P. and Alayah down to talk about their supposed pre-show friendship, and we don't know how that'll make fans feel about either lady. 2) Victoria P. leaves The Bachelor outside of a rose ceremony, apparently after a talk with Peter. It might make her look even better for having higher standards than Windmill Pete, or it could make her look like she's quitting to go home and crown her Miss Louisiana successor. 'Cause apparently she did that the next day.
However it's shown, Victoria P. leaves well before the end of Bachelor Peter's season, and fans tend to have short memories. ABC usually goes with someone who lasts longer. She may be half-forgotten by the time ABC names the 2020 Bachelorette.
So far, though, Victoria P. is standing out in a good way -- and that has been rare on Bachelor Peter Weber's season. She's a 27-year-old nurse who was Miss Louisiana, and that's how she knew Alayah, from the pageant circuit. It looked like Bachelor Peter really respected Victoria P.'s opinion about Alayah, and that may have played a big factor in Alayah leaving in the January 20 episode.
One way Victoria P. won respect was by opening up about her tough childhood. During her one-on-one date with Bachelor Peter, Victoria P. revelaed that her father died when she was very young and her mother fell into addiction. Victoria and her sister were in and out of shelters, and Victoria felt like she had to be the rock for her sister and mother. She even told a story about cutting up a potato and putting salt and pepper on it to make sure her sister had food.
Victoria P. dreamed of getting out of that place. She dreamed of having a house and a healthy and happy life and to have a family. She said she felt like it affected her relationships because she didn't feel deserving of love. It was the kind of heartbreaking, emotional speech Bachelorettes are made of. You can imagine ABC wanting to give her that Cinderella story.
Victoria P. can't be the Bachelorette if Bachelor Peter picks her in the end, but it sounds like that's not the case. According to Reality Steve, Victoria P. leaves when The Bachelor gets to Chile. Apparently she and Peter have a talk and agree to part ways. It's not clear how it will be portrayed, but Steve showed that Victoria P. crowned her Miss Louisiana successor the next day, so that might be tied to her decision to leave.
If you consider Victoria P. having quit, that may not even hurt her chances to be The Bachelorette. The show has actually given the lead job to a "quitter" before. Remember when Ali Fedotowsky left Jake Pavelka's season? Ali made it to final four, though. And that's another reason why I'm not sure about Victoria P.'s chances. It sounds like she leaves when the show still has 10 girls left, before Peter gets down to his top 6 at the 6th rose ceremony.
Usually, The Bachelor or The Bachelorette lasts a bit longer on the show before chosen. One big exception I can think of is Juan Pablo Galavis, who only made it to Week 6 in Bachelorette Desiree's season but stood out enough to become the lead. That did NOT go well. Early Bachelors, and Brad Womack, never competed on The Bachelorette first at all, but in 15 seasons The Bachelorette has never had a lead that wasn't first rejected on The Bachelor.
Sure, Bachelorette Hannah Brown didn't make the top 4 on Bachelor Colton Underwood's season, but she did make it to Week 7 and the top 7, just before hometowns. But that's where I have more questions. For one thing, if Bachelor Peter does not end up with Hannah B. again -- and Reality Steve says he doesn't -- then we have to at least brace ourselves for the possibility that Hannah Beast is the Bachelorette again. I doubt they'd do that, though. If anything, she might just return for Bachelor in Paradise. But ABC clearly loves her.
Even if Hannah B. does not return, will ABC want to do back-to-back pageant girls? The Bachelorette may be ready for a change after Hannah B. And Victoria P. -- while coming from a different background -- is another Southern pageant girl. She even looks like at least two other blonde women on Bachelor Peter's season. (Sorry to meme queens Kelsey and Sarah, but you know it's true.)
Bachelor Peter's season has other candidates for The Bachelorette. Some are spoiled to stay on the show longer than Victoria P., like Kelley Flanagan? Kelley, who met Peter at that hotel before the season started, seems refreshingly normal. Or the Bachelorette could be whoever Peter doesn't end up with after his reported final two of Hannah Ann Sluss and Madison Prewett.
Or, if producers want to go deep into the bench, why not go for someone like Tammy Ly, who seems like she has a fun personality and would be more entertaining to watch than Victoria P.? (Sorry, girl!)
If you had to pick one of Bachelor Peter's women -- or a past Bachelorette like Hannah B., I guess -- to be the 2020 Bachelorette, who would you pick? The Bachelor continues Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
