Defending her honor! Nick Viall’s ex-girlfriend Corinne Olympios may not be thrilled with ABC’s choice of Hannah Brown as the next Bachelorette, but the former Bachelor has other thoughts.
Viall, 38, commented on Us Weekly’s Instagram post in which Olympios said that “anyone” would’ve been a better choice as show lead.
“Hannah is going to prove many people wrong,” he wrote on Friday, May 10.
The businessman’s former flame, 27, was candid about her thoughts on the former beauty queen, 24, while speaking to Us earlier this week. “It’s just random. Like, why?” she asked about Brown’s new lead status. “It’s, like, there’s nothing there that would have made me be like, ‘I need to see her again on TV. I need to see her find love.’ Like, she wasn’t even someone that I was like, ‘I want her to find love.’”
She insisted: “Nobody loved her. When you hear someone being the Bachelor or the Bachelorette, it’s someone you loved and felt for on the season.”
The Bachelor in Paradise alum said she would still watch Brown’s search for companionship, however. “Am I interested in it? Absolutely not. Will I watch it? Absolutely yes,” she told Us.
Other Bachelor Nation alums have also expressed their doubt that the season 23 Bachelor contestant has what it takes to carry the show.
Season 13 Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay told Us in March that though she thinks Brown is “very, very nice,” she wasn’t her “first choice” or her “favorite.”
Ben Higgins, who starred on season 20 of the Bachelor, weighed in on Brown’s new venture to Us in April. “This is a little intimidating for her,” he said. “It’s a little scary, it’s a little wild and she isn’t prepped for it. Like, I don’t think she expected to be the Bachelorette, nor did she desire to be the Bachelorette after her season. So, this is all kind of a shock. … I’m really excited for her season.”
Season 11 Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe is in also in Brown’s corner: The “Off the Vine” podcast host sounded off in March about the backlash Brown received after she was announced as the Bachelorette: “People are giving her s–t, they’re being so mean to her, [saying] ‘She smiles too much,’ she said. “I’m like, really? That’s what you’re gonna pick her apart for? Smiling too much? What a psychopath! ‘Stop smiling, you psycho!’”
She concluded, “I’m so sorry that she was chosen as the Bachelorette and you don’t like her for these reasons that don’t make any sense to me, but give her a goddamn chance.”
Season 15 of The Bachelorette will premiere on ABC on Monday, May 13, at 8 p.m. ET.
