SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading this right this instant if you do not yet know the results of The Bachelor season finale Monday night.
On an emotional roller coaster of a concluding episode, Ben Higgins broke the heart of JoJo Fletcher, shattering her hopes and dreams.
Ben proposing to Lauren Bushnell, despite telling JoJo he was in love with her as well, made for one of the saddest breakups in show history.
But less than an hour after the finale aired, Fletcher was officially awarded a pretty sweet consolation prize on the After the Final Rose special:
She will be this year’s star of The Bachelorette!!!!!
Chris Harrison made the announcement on the network’s live after show, with Fletcher standing on stage and receiving a raucous ovation.
Ben, who was on hand for the obligatory post-mortem on his run as The Bachelor, called this the "perfect" choice on producers’ part.
It was also a surprising one. There had been talk that the network had decided to make third-place finisher Caila Quinn The Bachelorette.
However, Us Weekly claims she was too "polarizing" of a choice and ABC switched to Fletcher after making its initial selection.
Fletcher, 25, is a real estate developer from Dallas, Texas. Her mother is Persian, which may seem like a random, inconsequential detail.
But ABC has long come under fire for never having a non-white lead on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette in 30-plus seasons (yes, 30).
Earlier this year, network President Paul Lee told reporters that he’d be “very surprised” if The Bachelorette was not a “diverse” woman.
Does Fletcher count as diverse due to her mother’s heritage?
Do you care? Should it matter? Will you watch The Bachelorette online this summer with JoJo Fletcher at the show’s center?
Or is it too soon to ask any of these questions because you are still recovering from her getting dumped by Higgins last night?
She’ll be okay, we think. We have a good feeling about it.
