Entertainment

Is Chris Soules Rejoining Bachelor Nation?

by Emily Lackey

As another dramatic season of The Bachelorette begins filming, it’s only natural that we members of Bachelor Nation begin asking ourselves what’s next. Because, really, never is there a month in the year where some iteration of The Bachelor isn’t filming. And, with The Bachelorette cast pretty set in stone, it’s time to move our conspiracy theories over to the next season of Bachelor in Paradise. With Lace from Ben’s season of The Bachelor likely headed to BiP, I have to wonder who else is going to give love a second shot on this spinoff of The Bachelor. More specifically, I wanna know: Is Chris Soules going to be on Bachelor in Paradise?

Unfortunately for me (and, by extension, Bachelor Nation), there’s little to go on other than some mere (but still very exciting) rumors that Soules might make an appearance on the next season of Bachelor in Paradise. (Bustle reached out to ABC for comment in response to these rumors, but has not yet heard back.) But, even so, that's not stopping me from digging in my heels and hoping hard that this handsome farmer will make another appearance on reality television. Especially since he seems to like reality television a whole heck of a lot: After starring as a contestant on The Bachelorette, he went on to star as the bachelor on The Bachelor, and then, too, as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. In other words, he's no stranger to reality television.

For a while, though, Soules took a step back from any public appearances. His life went back to normal, relatively speaking, and that stunning jawline could only be found on his various social media accounts. Back in 2015, when the last season of Bachelor in Paradise was ramping up, there was some talk of whether or not he was into the show and what he thought of it — but it never progressed past that.

Even so, I have high hopes that this season could be the one to see Soules join the cast, especially since he’s been popping up in the public eye more than usual lately. In addition to his appearance on Ben’s season of The Bachelor, Soules was also featured heavily on the special The Bachelor at 20: A Celebration of Love. And even more recently, he was spotted in the audience at Monday night’s Dancing with the Stars live show.

Could all of these appearances be a sign that Soules is interested in regaining some of that limelight that he once had? Possibly. If this is the case, Bachelor in Paradise is the way to do it. Still, without any confirmation, when it comes to whether or not he’ll be on the next season of BiP, we’ll all just have to wait for the actual announcement — but until then, no harm in considering rumors!