Mike Fleiss Revealed A 'Bachelorette' Milestone

After Ben Higgins' season of The Bachelor wrapped with a somewhat predictable ending, the runner-up JoJo rode off into the sunset to start her own journey to find love on The Bachelorette. From the time that filming began on Season 12, Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss has been live-tweeting the process and offering hints to fans within Bachelor Nation, but this spoiler from The Bachelorette is the biggest of them all. Here's a hint, it has to do with the "L-word" — but not the TV show (at least, as far as I know).

Now, in every season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, there are certain milestones the leading man or woman hits with the people trying to win their heart. The first cocktail party/rose ceremony is, of course, a gigantic hurdle between meeting everyone and then selecting the core group for the rest of the season. Then there's the first kiss (which sometimes comes on the same night as the first cocktail party), the first one-on-one date, and so on. Most of these relationship milestones are the same ones that everyone experiences in romantic relationships, and one of the biggest is the first mention of love. Apparently, someone may have dropped the L-bomb already on this season of The Bachelorette:

OK, let's really dig into this tweet: Fleiss never actually confirms that "the L-word" is referring to love. But, since Fleiss has been up front about JoJo's kiss count, I'd say it's safe to believe someone has mentioned love in some form. Now, the context is where it gets really murky. Did someone admit to falling in love with JoJo? Did JoJo admit she's falling in love with one or more of her guys? Did someone actuallydrop to L-word in front of JoJo? As you can see, the possibilities for context are endless.

But, we can learn a little bit more about the timing from Fleiss' tweet. Before he tweeted that someone dropped the L-word, Fleiss' last update about the number of guys left in the process had JoJo with her final eight contestants, five or six of which she was really into. Then, given the updates in between, there was probably at least one rose ceremony, perhaps whittling the group down to about five or six men. (That is, if we assume there weren't any non-rose ceremony eliminations.) Now, we also haven't heard anything about hometowns yet, so in terms of where this L-word will pop up in the season, I'd guess a week or two before the hometowns episode.

Sure, I may be reading a bit much into this tweet, but the first mention of love is a big step in any relationship. It's especially important on shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette where saying it too early can not only lead to some uncomfortable conversations, but to getting eliminated entirely as well. Could this situation be similar to Olivia's declaration of love to Ben prior to being sent home? Or is it the first indication that JoJo is finding something real on her season of The Bachelorette?

Honestly, it could be either of these or it could be neither, but this is still the biggest spoiler Fleiss has revealed on his Twitter. Now, we'll just have to wait for Season 12 to premiere to see how it plays out, but I for one will be looking out for this L-word.

Images: Rick Rowell/ABC; bachgifs/Tumblr