Could Corinne Really Become The Bachelorette?

This season of The Bachelor may have only started about a month ago, but as much as I'm trying to figure out who Nick Viall will choose while I'm watching, I'm also trying to figure out who the next Bachelorette will be. So far, there are some solid possibilities, like Rachel Lindsay, who I want to be friends with so bad. But if you ask some of the guys from JoJo Fletcher's season of the show, they have a different idea of who's up next entirely. Wells Adams and Chase McNary both think Corinne Olympios could be the next Bachelorette, and even though I would have once said that was impossible, they're actually making a lot of sense. (ABC had no comment for Bustle on Chase and Wells' comments.)

While Chase and Wells were guests on Vinny Ventiera's Wrong Reasons podcast on Thursday, they weighed the show's options for its next lead. Although they both argued that Rachel would be a good choice — although they think America may not be ready for that much diversity (no, we totally are!) — they both think the producers are going to pull a bait and switch on us like they did last year. Remember how initially, rumors abounded that Caila Quinn was our next Bachelorette, but Chris Harrison ended up shocking us at After The Final Rose when he announced that the gig actually went to JoJo?

Yeah, they think something like that could happen... except this time, it could leave us with Corinne.

Here's Chase's take on the situation, via Us Weekly:

"[Producers] want everyone to think, 'Oh, this black girl is finishing pretty late on' and they've never had a black Bachelorette — that might be the direction they're going to go. It's the direction they have to go. But then, 'Holy sh*t, Donald Trump's the president, and Corinne's the Bachelorette? What's the world going to do?'"

He's making a good point there. It's 2017 and we have yet to have a black Bachelorette — how is that even possible? And making a villain the Bachelorette is so unprecedented that I would never have considered her a real, legit option. But here in Donald Trump's America, stranger things have happened indeed.

Chase continued on to say that he thinks producers will make us think that Rachel's a lock for it, and then, at the last minute, surprise us with Corinne, like what happened last year. The producers have been taking more and more risks with the show lately, too. Aside from the last minute switch to JoJo, the fact that Nick is our current Bachelor is a departure for The Bachelor, too, since it went against the tradition of choosing a runner-up from the most recent Bachelorette season in honor of choosing a fan favorite. Corinne as Bachelorette could really happen, so maybe we should start preparing for it.

And as for Wells? He's on Team Rachel, too, and he happens to agree with Chase on this one.

He said:

"Remember, we all thought it was Caila, and that was exactly what they were trying to do — that was diversity being the forefront. And then they kind of took stock of how America felt about it, they kind of leaked that information, and they realized America wasn't super pumped about that choice. Regardless of the diversity issue, it might've just been they didn't really love her personality or persona. But when they found out it was JoJo, people were very excited about that. 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. And I think what they're going to do is it will be misdirection. I think it's going to be … Rachel, and then at the last second, they'll have Corinne."

Wells is right about the show wanting to diversify the people it casts. As Us Weekly notes, ABC president Channing Dungey said last summer, "I would very much like to see some changes," in regards to the show choosing more diverse stars.

As interesting and entertaining Corinne is on The Bachelor, at this point, I'm still hoping for Rachel so much. She's so intelligent and funny, and if Nick makes the mistake of letting her go, I want to know that she's getting a happy ending, too!

And if The Bachelorette does decide to give us Corinne this spring? Well, Raquel better be there. I want an episode where she makes the guys cheese pasta.