There’s usually a formula for who’s going to be the next lead of a given show in The Bachelor franchise: Typically, it’s someone from the top four of the previous season selected to hand out the next season’s worth of roses. That’s why Rachel Lindsay, 33, told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY at the Bridezillas Fashion Show in New York City on March 13 that she was surprised the show went with 24-year-old Hannah Brown as The Bachelorette – the blonde beauty finished seventh on 27-year-old Colton Underwood’s season.
Rachel told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY, “I’m shocked they picked Hannah, I didn’t think that they’d reached that far back… we haven’t seen that in a long time. I mean, I definitely think that she’ll be entertaining and she’s [24]. So, it’s like, ‘Have the time of your life, you’re like a Miss America [Hannah competed in the 2018 Miss America pageant but did not place].’ It’s the pageant she never won. Now, she gets to be in that role. So, have fun… be open to whatever.”
“I think Hannah B’s gonna be fun,” Rachel added about Hannah’s season. “I mean, I’m on record saying that I didn’t think anybody should be The Bachelorette from this season. I’m not gonna change my mind.”
Rachel said she was asked to give Hannah advice in the upcoming season, as leads have done in the past to their successors, but she admitted she “can’t.” Rachel explained, “How much of a hypocrite am I gonna be that I said that she shouldn’t be The Bachelorette… honestly, when I was saying that, I was only talking about the top four. I never thought that they’d go back and pick those other people, but whatever. I said it. So, I’d be a big hypocrite if I come on her season like, ‘Hey girl, let me help you find a man.’ It’s nothing personal.” That may be true, but we sure would love any opportunity to see Rachel on our screens!
Even if Rachel isn’t offering Hannah some mentorship, it’s possible the process can work for the younger lead as it did for Rachel. The litigator got engaged to Bryan Abasolo, 39, at the end of her season, and the two plan to marry in August 2019 in the Caribbean.