While writing this recap, I spent some time time thinking about the possibility of Hannah B as next season’s Bachelorette. This was thanks to Pretty Pandas reader Rachel, who wrote me with an excerpt from Reality Steve’s recap of this episode, where he included (spoiler-free) thoughts of a friend of his on Hannah B and the case for her being the next lead. I thought these were really compelling arguments, enough to include here. I know it’s a big read but it’s well-written and excellent food for thought…

“With Hannah B, there are three Bachelorette qualities the show reliably feature that they haven’t shown for others in the final four.

First, the show demographic is overwhelmingly females in their 20s, 30s, 40s. The show works with its demographic for the Bachelorette when the audience can feel empathy for the lead and relate to their story. The story is consistently that this person is struggling to find love and acceptance in the real world. The lead typically needs a win and the audience is empathetic to that. For example, we believed that Becca was left heartbroken and scarred so we wanted to see her be “given” an opportunity for a love story. However, there is no way the show can sell us on the very young models Cassie or Hannah G, or the young beauty queen Caelynn, needing the show to find their husband. These women are young and stunning. They need no help and it would be nearly impossible for the demographic to feel invested in these women in desperate need of a win in life or love. However, Hannah B – while also young and beautiful – has been shown with deep insecurities and as the one who didn’t win the crown. There’s something about her that makes you want to wrap her up in a warm blanket and just hug her tight. You feel empathy towards her feeling she’s not good enough and that she just needs a win. The producers have given us reasons to root for her. And, most women can relate to the way she has felt at one point or another – we can believe in her; because we’ve all been Hannah B at some point. (Note: I’m not including Tayshia in this point because she was already married and divorced… she had no trouble finding a husband already. She’ll find another).

Next, historically the Bachelorette is portrayed as being well-liked by the girls in the house and nearly conflict-free. We’ve seen Tayshia and Caelynn talk poorly about others. In both instances, the story line didn’t advance from including those comments. I have hard time believing the producers would put those comments in there for their Bachelorette for the same reason we never saw Rachel and Vanessa throw down on Nick’s season. But with Hannah B – the only conflict we saw was her with Caelynn and you can argue that plays into Hannah B feeling insecure and not good enough and not the winner. And in a way, she seemed railroaded by Caelynn in the end of all of that (and we saw their resolution which is something rare on this show). We also consistently see Hannah B with her arms around other girls, her friendship with Heather and Demi, etc. She is clearly a girls’ girl and liked and it makes her easy to root for her. She seems like someone we all would want to be friends with while watching from home. I’d get a drink with Hannah B which is a quality I want to see in a lead.

Last, she is literally the only person this season where we consistently see her goofy, fun personality. Without fail, every episode has had at least one clip or scene where we see her being goofy or funny or animated. She’s fun to watch and we’re getting to know Hannah B. From her being a pirate to doing Hannah Beast to her doing fighting moves with Colton….we are getting to know her bit by bit. We haven’t seen this much personality from anyone else on this show this season except for Demi (maybe) and that didn’t feel authentic. Hannah B is authentic and fun to watch. I believe the producers are giving us SO MUCH of her for a reason. They aren’t giving us that much of any of the top four – that’s for sure.

There’s my reasoning for Hannah B. And I’m pulling for her in a big way. I’m so down for a Hannah B Bachelorette season. Colton has been so boring…We need to breathe some life into next season. And life, for the audience, is not insulting our intelligence that some 23 year old model is struggling to find love…. *eye roll*”

I agree with several points here and kind of can’t believe I didn’t see them sooner. First, we have not been given almost any personality from many other women on this season, save Demi. (Who, while having gotten a personality edit, did not get a Bachelorette edit.) I can’t help but think, knowing this episode would have the potential to mar audience impressions of both Cassie and Caelynn, that ended up changing the edits they’d receive throughout the season. Tayshia’s gotten decent airtime but her involvement in the latest drama will certainly ruin her clean record. Plus, except for the credits scene from this week (where she had a stain on her jeans), we haven’t been shown much in the way of fun, goofy footage of her, either. The only completely drama-free woman remaining is Hannah G, but we haven’t seen anything to make her relatable or like someone you’d want to sympathize with and root for. (I’m not saying she’s neither of these things, I’m saying all we’ve been shown thus far has been her as a piece of meat Colton wants to hump.) Now, I also think it’s possible it could be someone else altogether. But in terms of possibilities from this crop of ladies, after reading this, it’s hard to un-imagine Hannah B and only Hannah B as Bachelorette. Your thoughts??

GROUP DATE

Colton takes his four rose-less ladies for an old-school train ride through the mountains. First up, Heather ups and leaves in the most fabulous way. She calls Colton “so special” and then, in the same sentence, just peaces out. It is GREAT.