It's a cruel summer...and no one knows that better than Bachelor Nation fans as the wait is now on to see who will be named the next star of The Bachelor.

As the dust continues to settle now that Becca Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette has come to a happy end and Bachelor in Paradise has returned for its fifth season, the search for the franchise's next leading man is well underway, and E! News is taking you inside the in-depth decision-making process currently going on.

ABC executive Rob Mills, the network's SVP of alternative series, specials, and late-night programming, took a break from the casting sessions for the next season of The Bachelor to break down the process of how producers are choosing between the contenders to be the star of season 23 for E! News.

"It's probably one of the bigger pools we've ever had, I think there's probably six serious contenders," he revealed during a phone call on Wednesday afternoon.