“I’m just a Midwest guy from Missouri that just wants to find love,†says our newest Bachelor, former NFL player and Certified Dog Person Clayton Echard. ABC has announced after his recent elimination that Echard will be finding his future wife in the forthcoming season of The Bachelor. In the teaser trailer, Echard smooches with his potential partners as he searches for the one. However, while Echard plays Prince Charming, the ladies are in tears and fighting with one another over who gets to be Cinderella (or at least Dog Mom).
Echard was eliminated in Michelle Young’s season of The Bachelorette right before the hometown dates. The casting of Echard puzzled fans as the bachelor/bachelorette for the next season is typically selected from the final two weeks, as seen on BachelorData’s Instagram. For the first time ever, The Bachelorette will have an all Black final four contestants. But the historic strides don’t translate into the next season of The Bachelor, after numerous years of criticism for the show’s lack of diversity. Echard is advertised as an “underdog†in ABC’s promotional material, but a former NFL player who’s great with children doesn’t seem like much of an underdog at all. Regardless, Echard has big shoes to fill as he tries to win over the Bachelor Nation and his new beau on The Bachelor.