Spoiler alert: This story includes spoilers for the result of Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette, including eliminations that haven’t aired yet. You’ve been warned!
For most of Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette, any mention of who might be the next Bachelor was forbidden amongst the Season 17 cast. Thomas Jacobs even got eliminated for it. But, now that we’re in the home stretch, it is the major burning question in Bachelor Nation — will someone from this season get another shot at love as The Bachelor?
Katie Thurston and her ex-boyfriends spoke with US Weekly recently and chose the contestants from their season they’d most like to see get another chance at reality TV love. Here are the top choices from the Season 17 cast.
Michael Allio
Pretty much all of Bachelor Nation fell in love with Michael Allio as we learned of his journey on The Bachelorette, and that love was only magnified after his early exit before Hometowns. Allio got the vote from some of his former housemates to be the next Bachelor, including Bachelor in Paradise cast member Tre Cooper, Andrew Spencer — who said Allio “knows how to love” — and even Thurston, who said the widower has “a lot to offer.”
I would love to see more of Michael Allio — his blooper reel outtakes from the “Men Tell All” episode really showed his carefree sense of humor — but his concern for his son, which caused Allio to leave The Bachelorette early, would be an even bigger issue if he were The Bachelor's lead. Allio said as much to US Weekly:
They would have to change a lot, like, it’s not the same season with me. So one, it’s not been offered, two, [there] hasn’t been any of those conversations [and] three, I see a lot of risk and issues that are not of interest to me. I’m not easily flattered either. So the main thing is if I did this — do I think it would be possible to pursue love to find that again? I don’t know.
Andrew Spencer
Andrew Spencer, the Australian footballer whose emotional elimination left fans in tears like we’d accidentally put on The Notebook again, was up there with Michael Allio as a top choice of the Season 17 cast, with Katie Thurston saying both guys “are ready to really settle down and they've really grown a lot as men.”
The Bachelorette co-hosts Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe echoed Thurston’s choices, saying Spencer and Allio “have so much to offer, and it would be amazing to see them find love.” And, while Michael Allio balked at the idea of himself leading The Bachelor, he fully supported Andrew Spencer:
There's just a lot of great guys. I would say Andrew — Andrew's a great guy, you know, he’s well-spoken, he's honest and he's in it.
Greg Grippo
Greg Grippo was a frontrunner for Katie Thurston from the beginning. Going into the Hometown dates, Grippo was still in contention for Thurston’s final rose, so it’s kind of suspicious that some of his Season 17 castmates gave his name as the possible next man up. Tre Cooper said Grippo would be great for the show and, “I want him to find his person.”
Andrew Spencer also had nothing but glowing remarks for Greg Grippo:
And Greg — first of all, it's been the Gregerlorette so far. [We’ve] been watching him and just watching his, you know, his story. He looks like Ryan Gosling. He's a freaking gorgeous man with a great personality. He's my best friend.
But, maybe the most telling of all is what Katie Thurston didn’t say. While she offered up Andrew Spencer and Michael Allio as great options to lead The Bachelor, Greg Grippo was not mentioned. Could she and Grippo really be headed for one of The Bachelorette’s biggest blow-ups ever? Blake Moynes, the late-comer to Thurston’s season, was also not offered up as a Bachelor option, but that’s likely for a much happier reason. Justin Glaze wasn't mentioned either, possibly because he's seen some off-screen drama pertaining to his past social media activity.
There’s also the chance that the next Bachelor won’t come from Season 17 of The Bachelorette. Someone from Bachelor in Paradise Season 7 — which premieres August 16 — could be chosen, or the franchise might always dip back further into past seasons’ contestants.
The Bachelorette airs at 8 p.m. ET Mondays on ABC, with a three-hour season finale set for August 9. Stay up to date on all your shows with our 2021 Summer TV schedule.
