The Bachelorette's next star will be formally announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday, ABC has announced.
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In addition to the announcement, the Jimmy Kimmel Live broadcast -- which will air at midnight, one hour after ABC airs the finale of The Bachelor's fifteenth season and its subsequent After the Final Rose special -- will also feature an interview with the newly-crowned The Bachelorette star.
Earlier this week, Chris Harrison acknowledged that eliminated fifteenth-season The Bachelor bachelorette Ashley Hebert is a favorite for the role.
"Ashley H, as far as fans go, is a big front-runner," Harrison told TV Guide about the 26-year-old dental school student from Philadelphia, PA.
However, while rumors that Hebert will be The Bachelorette's seventh-season star have circulated for several weeks, Harrison had recently insisted the show hadn't selected its next Bachelorette yet.
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"There will be a Bachelorette announcement very soon... It might be announced on After the Final Rose, but I can promise you as of [February 27] I was with the creator of the show, Mike Fleiss, and when I left him in the wee hours of the morning we did not have a Bachelorette picked. We don't make a decision right away because we really leave a lot up to our fans and viewers," Harrison told TV Guide last week.
"Immediately after [Ashley Spivey]'s exit, everyone was clamoring for her, but maybe that will die down, so let's wait and see. Ashley H can easily be our Bachelorette and she's a contender, but it has not been decided. We're constantly going back and forth and the front-runners change 10 times. We play the show out and honestly I can see a show with Ashley S, Ashley H -- I can see a show now with [Michelle Money]."
Meanwhile, Hebert recently admitted she would be very interested in doing the show if given the opportunity.
"If they asked me to do The Bachelorette, I would definitely consider it. I feel like the process worked for me once and I would be so excited to do," she told Reality TV World.
Hebert also acknowledged the decision to become the next Bachelorette would likely impact her remaining schooling and potentially affect her plans to begin a career in dentistry.
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"I think that if I did decide to do it, there would have to be a compromise in my education. I'm planning on graduating in a couple months. So, ultimately, I'd probably have to weigh the pros and cons and I would be taking a little bit of time off from school, but in the end, I will be graduating and getting a job, so dentistry is the No. 1 thing in my life right now. I will never fare away from that," Hebert told Reality TV World.
While not formally announced by ABC yet, The Bachelorette's seventh season is expected to premiere in late May and begin production later this month.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski