One of the potential upsides for anyone who appears on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette or Bachelor in Paradise (aside from possibly coming away with your one true love, that is) is the chance to stay with the franchise and appear on other upcoming shows. This includes maybe leading The Bachelor or Bachelorette after being one of the contestants on a previous season. Well, it turns out that Caelynn Miller-Keyes thought she was a shoo-in to lead the 2019 Bachelorette after appearing on Colton Underwood's Bachelor season, and she remembers those strong feelings about losing out to Hannah Brown.
Caelynn Miller-Keyes recently appeared on The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast, and spoke about her time in the franchise, including how she felt about missing out on getting to lead The Bachelorette in 2019, after she wrapped her run on Colton's season. While many people who complete a run on a Bachelor franchise show are A-OK with not continuing, it definitely sounds like Caelynn is not in that camp. Here's what she had to say:
I remember getting the call that it wasn't me for Bachelorette and I was like, ‘Dang! That kind of sucks.' And then I found out it was [Hannah] at “Women Tell All.” It hurt. It definitely hurt.
OK, so Caelynn was certainly bummed that the producers of The Bachelorette decided not to pursue having her lead the series last year, but doesn't it sound like she was even more upset that they did choose Hannah over her? There are probably several reasons for this, but let's just start with the obvious one, which has everything to do with Caelynn and Hannah's history, both during Colton's season and before.
As anyone who watched Colton's time on The Bachelor will likely remember (though it does seem like his season aired waaaay more than a little over a year ago), Caelynn Miller-Keyes (Miss North Carolina USA 2018) and Hannah Brown (Miss Alabama USA 2018) were both contestants in the 2018 Miss USA pageant, and were roommates during the competition. However, they didn't get along that well, so when both ladies showed up to vie for Colton's heart on The Bachelor, there was a ton of on-screen tension between the two.
This tension included (of course) a lot of back and forth about who did or didn't do shady stuff while they were both trying to win the Miss USA title, and as they traveled the globe to try and win Colton's heart. Hannah was even one of several Bachelor ladies from their season who accused Caelynn of only being on the show to try and get as close as possible to "winning" (i.e. getting Colton to propose to them) so that she could be considered for The Bachelorette.
Caelynn maintained that she really was in love with Colton, and that she was only on the show to try and find love, so it makes a lot of sense that she would be super pissed that someone she had such long-standing drama with got to lead The Bachelorette in 2019, as opposed to her. In addition to her animosity with Hannah, it sounds like conversations that Caelynn had with the producers, as well as the history of the show, had led her to believe that she pretty much had the gig in the bag:
It stung and I was upset and I was kind of led to believe that it was mine and then suddenly it wasn't. It was Hannah's. Looking back on previous seasons, it's always been in the top four and then to branch out and to pick Hannah, it just hurt.
Caelynn's "it's always been in the top four" comment is a reference to how the producers usually choose who will lead the next leg of the franchise. For several seasons running, contestants who make it to the last four choices for the lead (on both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette) are the top picks for the next potential franchise stars. In fact, Hannah getting to be Bachelorette was the first time that the lead for that show wasn't in the top four on The Bachelor. Whereas Caelynn made it to number four on Colton's season, Hannah was sent home (yes, dumped) as his number seven pick.
All in all, I can see why Caelynn Miller-Keyes felt like the Bachelorette rug was pulled out from under her when Hannah Brown was announced as the next lead. Luckily, things seem to have worked out for Caelynn, as she went on later that summer to appear on a super messy season of Bachelor in Paradise and is still with boyfriend Dean Unglert, whom she met on that show.
Well, Bachelor / Bachelorette / Bachelor in Paradise drama is stalled for now until production on Hollywood shows can officially get back up and running, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend for news on Clare Crawley's 2020 season of The Bachelorette (which saw many fans annoyed that she was chosen, considering she hasn't been in the franchise since 2018). In the meantime, check out what's coming to TV this summer!
