UPDATED 2/14/2017, 12:00 a.m. ET: It’s official! Rachel Lindsay appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday, February 13, and was revealed to be the season 13 Bachelorette. “I’m ready to find love, find a husband,” she said.
UPDATED 2/13/2017, 9 p.m. ET: Mike Fleiss appeared to confirm the news about Rachel Lindsay by tweeting, “Very happy about the overwhelming support for our new #TheBachelorette!!!”
Original story:
One of Nick Viall’s cast offs is getting another chance! The Bachelor season 21 standout Rachel Lindsay will be the season 13 Bachelorette, a source tells Us Weekly. ABC confirms to Us that the next Bachelorette will be announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live’s Monday, February 13, episode. Watch the next Bachelorette in action in the video above!
Lindsay, who landed a one-on-one date with Viall in New Orleans, is one of his six remaining ladies heading into The Bachelor’s February 13 episode. This is the first time that The Bachelorette has announced a series lead before the person’s elimination episode of The Bachelor has aired.
The 31-year-old Dallas-based attorney marks the franchise’s first black lead, and her selection follows the shows’ lack of diversity having become a bit of cause célèbre recently. Series creator Mike Fleiss has recently been tweeting about a “history-making announcement” that will happen on Kimmel.
The Bachelorette season 12 alum Wells Adams was a guest on a podcast earlier this month, and talk turned to whether producers would choose Lindsay. “I think the franchise wants to so badly break out of its cookie-cutter, white-person shell, but I don’t think that America will embrace it, sadly enough,” he said.
ABC president Channing Dungey told reporters at a press event in August that she would like the Bachelor franchise to start choosing more diverse leads. “I would very much like to see some changes there,” she said.
Host Chris Harrison recently told Us Weekly exclusively that the show would be “lucky” to have Lindsay in the coveted role.
“She would be incredible,” Harrison said of Lindsay. “She’s incredibly smart, she’s sweet and caring yet strong and independent, obviously wicked smart and a lawyer and very accomplished, has a lot of attributes. That’s massively attractive to Nick, and it would be to any guy!”
Tell Us: Are you looking forward to seeing Rachel Lindsay as the next Bachelorette?
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
