A few lovable fan favorites have already separated themselves from the pack on this season of The Bachelor, but most of them seem like the types of characters who'll be fun to watch on Bachelor in Paradise or The Bachelor Winter Games. There's one contestant, however, who proved on her first one-on-one date that she might have the depth and range to carry the franchise next season. So will Seinne be the next Bachelorette? Twitter has spoken and the verdict is that she's way too good for Arie.
Seinne boasts a super impressive background, which Arie has thankfully taken notice of. On the Demolition Derby group date, he remarked, "She went to Yale! I barely graduated high school and worked at Pizza Hut." Seinne graduated from Yale in 2012, where she studied economics and served as a member of the Yale Black Women's Coalition, so she has no trouble articulating her sharp insights about everything from growing up as a black woman in America, to why representation for women of color matters in love stories like The Bachelor, to what it felt like to watch her parents in a troubled marriage.
"Growing up, in society in the U.S., you don't see love stories that have girls that look like me," she said on her one-on-one date. "I didn't have something to look at and say, 'Oh that could be my story'... I am great but there are other girls where it's like this love story looks more appropriate for them."
Honestly, these conversations are exactly what propelled Rachel Lindsay to the front of the pack on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor, and helped producers realize that she was an excellent and necessary choice for the first black Bachelorette. Here's the thing, though: Rachel was a fearlessly envelope-pushing contestant on Nick's season who plainly broached the subject of interracial dating with him and with each of their families. Nick seemed a little awkward in these moments and may not have handled the conversations super fluently, but at least he engaged with Rachel in a way that challenged him. When Seinne brought up her experience as a woman of color trying to find romantic connection, Arie didn't say much at all, other that to vaguely tell her that she was incredible. He doesn't really seem to be pushing himself past that high-school-and-Pizza-Hut level to engage with her in a way that may inspire personal growth.
Chris Harrison senses a ton of potential in Seinne, too. In an interview with People, he named the 27-year-old contestant as one of his top five frontrunners to snag the final rose. "This girl is flat out impressive," he said at the time. "She’s incredibly intelligent and she definitely has this zest for life that Arie is in awe of. He’s a little bit mesmerized by her."
That's obvious by this point, but is Seinne just as mesmerized by Arie? Bachelor Nation's warmth toward him has petered out a little since his early notoriety as the kissing bandit (helped along by ABC playing footage of The Wall Kiss on a near-constant loop). Now, his dates are starting to feel a little boring, tedious, and repetitive, rather than intimate, vulnerable, and romantic.
Although Twitter is raising collective eyebrows, Seinne remains humble as ever, tweeting in response to notion that she's "too good" for the show that she doesn't really know what that means. "I may not be the typical contestant, but everyone has a story and the timing and circumstances worked out for me," she writes. Of course, this has only endeared her to fans even more.
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