Will we be seeing Lily McManus on The Bachelorette NZ?

The secret is out, there are two Bachelorettes — and while the newcomer's identity is yet to be revealed, all signs point to former Bachelor contestant Lily McManus.

Wednesday night's episode of The Bachelorette NZ saw Dr Lesina Nakhid-Schuster introduce her surprise co-star to the group of suitors — though viewers will have to wait until next week to find out who she is.

McManus was our top pick to be New Zealand's first-ever Bachelorette back when the show was first announced. We might have been wrong about that, but now that we know there are two leading ladies... well, we're just going to go right ahead and call it again.

Here's all the evidence that Lily McManus is the second Bachelorette...

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* Lesina Nakhid-Schuster is not the Bachelorette we were expecting

* It's looking more and more likely that Lily McManus is the new star of The Bachelorette NZ

* Lily McManus was 'burning up' when she left the Celebrity Treasure Island set

The social media absence

TVNZ Lily McManus was a contestant on Celebrity Treasure Island.

Towards the end of last year, McManus took an unexplained month-long break from Instagram. She finally returned to the social media platform with a post showing her getting a new tattoo, which appeared shortly after fellow reality star Art Green, the new host of The Bachelorette NZ, revealed he was returning home from filming overseas... suggesting they had been working on the same project.

Since then, McManus has been suspiciously quiet on social media, sharing only a handful of Instagram posts and stories of her daily life with her 124,000 followers — and definitely not talking about the latest season of the reality show she was such a big part of. Non-disclosure agreement, perhaps?

The TVNZ connection

McManus was runner-up on the third season of The Bachelor NZ, which premiered in March 2017 on Three. After moving to the US to appear on the international edition The Bachelor: Winter Games, she returned to New Zealand in 2019 to appear in a reboot of Celebrity Treasure Island — a TVNZ show. The Bachelorette NZ now airs on TVNZ, so perhaps McManus has become one of their workhorse reality stars?

She's friends with the narrator

Screenshot Lily is known for her love of black boots.

Speaking of Celebrity Treasure Island, McManus is mates with Kiwi actress Jodie Rimmer, who also appeared on the show. You know the female voice you can hear narrating The Bachelorette NZ? That's right, it's Rimmer. Who doesn't love working with their friends?

The boots

Let's turn our attention to the knees-down reveal we saw in the latest episode. The most telling detail is the black boots — which are very on brand for the playful McManus.

Her name starts with 'L'

Unless you were listening very carefully, you might have missed this one, but towards the start of the episode the narrator basically gives it away: The clue begins with "L". We'll see you next week, Lily.