Katie Thurston has reportedly been selected to star on The Bachelorette for Season 17.
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ABC has chosen The Bachelor star Matt James' spunky and bold bachelorette Katie, a 30-year-old bank marketing manager from Lynnwood, WA, to be the leading lady of The Bachelorette's 2021 season, according to Reality Steve spoiler blogger Steve Carbone.
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Katie's The Bachelorette casting was reportedly announced at the February 4 taping of The Bachelor: The Women Tell All.
"(SPOILER): At the Women Tell All taping this past Thursday, Katie Thurston was announced as the next 'Bachelorette,'" Carbone tweeted Saturday.
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But Katie played it up like she had no idea what people are talking about in a Sunday post to her Instagram Stories.
"Reading my texts this morning like, 'News to me,'" Katie posted a selfie in which she was shrugging her shoulders.
Katie's time on The Bachelor's 25th season reportedly comes to an end on the upcoming February 8 episode.
"Katie gets eliminated on Monday's episode during her 1-on-1 with Matt," Carbone tweeted.
The Bachelorette's seventeenth season is expected to begin filming on schedule in March.
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Carbone reported in late January that The Bachelorette's 2021 season was going to film at a resort in Canada, but he updated fans last week claiming there's been a change in plans.
Carbone tweeted on February 2, "(UPDATE): Due to the updated quarantine restrictions in Canada laid out last week, I've been told Bachelorette will NOT be filming there next season anymore."
"Resorts in the US now being looked at, but they are definitely still looking at colder weather locations," he added.
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Late last month, Carbone had also released the name of the Canadian resort where he thought production would be filming The Bachelorette's seventeenth season.
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"(SPOILER) Early speculation already in my DMs is that the resort for Bachelorette filming in Canada next season might be at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta," Carbone wrote on Twitter at the time.
Carbone heard from a handful of sources at the time that producers had decided on taping in Canada.
"Next season of The Bachelorette is filming in Canada. It will be another quarantine shoot," Carbone wrote in a January 26 blog post.
Carbone had also reported The Bachelorette will be filming at a single luxury resort all season long with no traveling, just like what viewers have seen with Matt's season set at a resort in Farmington, PA, as well as Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams' The Bachelorette edition, which taped in Palm Springs, CA, and aired in Fall 2020.
"Cast & crew, once they arrive in Canada, will quarantine and test for 2 weeks before production begins," Carbone wrote in his blog before plans changed.
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"I've been told cast & crew will leave for Canada (production/crew probably a week or so earlier than cast like they did for Matt's season) at the end of February/beginning of March, quarantine for two weeks in Canada, so they can begin filming the week Matt's finale airs, which looks to be March 15th or 16th, depending on if they're gonna do a one or two night finale."
Many The Bachelor viewers have already been rooting for Katie to become the next The Bachelorette star.
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Katie separated herself from Matt's cast of bachelorettes early on with her raunchy humor and high self-esteem.
Katie, for instance, introduced Matt to her vibrator on Night 1, and she wrote a jaw-dropping sex scene during a group date that led Matt to appreciate how she's unapologetically herself.
But there's more to Katie than a good laugh. Not only did the bachelorette stand up for Sarah Trott during her time of need on the show, but Katie was also quick to shut down cattiness and gossip when she believed a woman was being wrongfully accused or mistreated.
When drama got out of hand, Katie asked Matt to step in and address his group of women after newcomer Brittany Galvin was accused of being an escort, which is an allegation that could ruin Brittany's reputation and career.
Although Katie works as a bank marketing manager, she has amassed over 260,000 followers on Instagram as well as on her TikTok account, where she shares "adult humor" and "comedic entertainment" videos.
Some of Katie's videos feature her joking about d-ck pics and sharing insight on sexting.
During a recent appearance on Bachelor Happy Hour podcast hosted by The Bachelorette alums Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin, Katie -- whom Chris Harrison recently revealed is a Super Fan of The Bachelor franchise -- admitted she initially thought she'd be too old to compete on the show.
Katie also said she was surprised by her The Bachelor casting given the show typically signs on "supermodels" and she doesn't believe she fits that description.
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On why she believes producers selected her to compete on Matt's The Bachelor season, Katie explained, "I was just my 100 percent self and I guess they found that pretty refreshing. I had no filter; I didn't hide anything... I was like, 'Let's go with it!'"
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