And the next Bachelor is.......(drum roll, please).
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The Bachelor's upcoming nineteenth-season star will be Chris Soules, who recently appeared on Andi Dorfman's The Bachelorette edition, Us Weekly reported Tuesday.
Soules, a 32-year-old successful farmer from Arlington, IA, was eliminated by Dorfman in third place after she had visited his hometown and met his family.
Former The Bachelorette star Emily Maynard's runner-up Arie Luyendyk Jr., who was allegedly also in the running to become the reality dating series' next star, revealed he didn't get the opportunity on Twitter prematurely.
"I'm not the Bachelor," Luyendyk Jr. tweeted Monday. "Have fun on the farm people."
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Luyendyk Jr.'s announcement seemed to all but confirm Soules' participation.
Soules has been dubbed the frontrunner to land the leading role on The Bachelor for weeks now. Other names that had been tossed around in the press were Dorfman's fellow tenth-season suitors Marquel Martin and Marcus Grodd, however, both men appeared on Bachelor in Paradise.
Soules was a clear fan favorite from Dorfman's season, as the audience roared with applause for him during The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All and After the Final Rose specials. Soules came across as a sweet, kind-hearted gentleman yet he managed to stand up for himself and put some of the other guys in their place numerous times throughout the season.
Luyendyk Jr., a 32-year-old race car driver from Scottsdale, AZ, competed on The Bachelorette's seventh season back in 2012 and lost Maynard's heart to Jef Holm. He apparently has no hard feelings about producers selecting Soules over him.
"Thanks for the kind words everyone. It wasn't meant to be, and I'm okay with it," Luyendyk additionally tweeted. "Happy I can move forward."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski