If you are a big fan of The Bachelor, then you should know that its title character will be Chris Soules. Soules was a runner-up for Andi Dormann, when she was The Bachelorette. The 2015 edition and 19th season of this reality show will premiere on January 5th.
The announcement was made official with a long promo commercial that premiered at the 2014 Country Music Awards (CMA). The ad may have been targeted for the country music audience as it showed Chris Soules walking in a cornfield.
Soules is originally from Iowa, and he was known on the show for being quite a farmer. On the CMA ad, it shows Chris as he walks through the cornfield, and then he hears voices that are a deliberate nod to Kevin Costner's character from Field of Dreams. In this case, the voices are all of the bachelorettes who will be contending for his rose, trying to talk over one another.
There are reports that Soules' farming past is going to play a huge part of the show when it premieres in January. In fact, the show plans to be set in Iowa, with Soules' hometown of Arlington being a very principal part of the action. Soules was always known to be the one who would often talk a lot about farming even though a lot of the other contenders would discuss their lives in the city at great length. It is not very difficult to imagine an episode where all of the bachelorettes have to become farmhands, and easier to imagine many of them wanting to drop out because the work is really hard. The show has actually begun filming, but the final rose ceremony has not filmed.
It really isn't a surprise that Soules was going to be The Bachelor, as he was considered very popular when he was on The Bachelorette. As soon as he was eliminated, there were all kinds of tweets and fan demands for him to take center stage.
Soules is very pleased at having being chosen, saying: "coming from a small town I never really expected to have this opportunity to be on either show let alone to be the lead on The Bachelor, so it's been awesome."
Host Chris Harrison is also showing a lot of excitement, claiming that the 2015 edition could be the most dramatic season ever. Harrison also says that this won't be one of those "high-concept" seasons with big celebrity leads, but the show is "going back to their roots". That is, it is all about a simple man who has to choose between a lot of attractive women.
There has been a lot of speculation about where this show can go after 19 seasons, and perhaps a "back to its roots" approach might be the way to go. There have been many reality shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race which have essentially become tentpoles on network's viewing schedules, and these shows could remain a part of the television lineup for generations to come. It will be interesting to see what direction Soules will take The Bachelor.
The Bachelor 2015 contestants can be found here.
