How does the 'Bachelorette' get chosen? Who is the lead of Season 21?

Here's where to read about "The Bachelor" 2024 finale, including the new Bachelorette, Jenn Tran, and what happened to Maria and Daisy. 

How does the Bachelorette get chosen?

With debates about who is going to be the next “Bachelorette” from Joey Garziadei’s Season 28 of "The Bachelor," which has its finale on Monday, March 25, it comes as no surprise that fans are wondering how exactly the next leading lady is chosen.

ABC has a few options from the 32 contestants who were on the “The Bachelor” 2024. Fan favorites range from Maria Georgas and Jenn Tran to Rachel Nance, Lexi Young and Daisy Kent – if she isn’t the winner of Joey’s heart.

@bachelordata has provided insight on the contestant follower counts from Season 28 as well as how the previous “Bachelorette” picks have ranked in terms of eliminations.

Here’s a breakdown of who the next “Bachelorette” might be, what the statistics from previous “Bachelorette” picks look like and when the announcement might come.

Did they announce the next ‘Bachelorette’?

At the time of publication, ABC has not announced the next “Bachelorette” for Season 21.

When do we find out who the next ‘Bachelorette’ is?

In a blog posted on March 12, Reality Steve went on to say that “The Bachelorette” would begin filming in 2.5 weeks, which means that production is most likely to start on or near April 1.

So an announcement for the next lead will likely be made at “After the Final Rose” during Joey’s season finale.

Who is the new ‘Bachelorette’?

There are two frontrunners for the lead in Season 21 of “The Bachelorette” and those women are Maria Georgas and Daisy Kent.

According to Reality Steve, 22 of the 24 women who’ve been the “Bachelorette” have finished in the top 4 during their time on “The Bachelor.”

This isn’t to say that something couldn’t change in the near future, he went on to say. That’s because there have been times when people have been selected as the new lead only for it to get taken from them.

Other fan favorites for the role include Jenn, Rachel and Lexi.

According to a post from @bachelordata on Instagram, Maria has passed 500,000 Instagram followers and has become the most-followed contestant from Joey’s season.

The last time any contestant on “The Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” passed that amount of followers before the finale was during Peter Weber’s season in 2020 with Madi, Hannah Ann and Victoria F.

At the time of publication, @maria.georgas had 540,000 followers on Instagram.

Now, whether being the most followed contestant is indicative of whether or not Maria becomes the lead remains to be seen.

Although Maria does have the highest follower count as of right now, she was not the first woman on Joey’s season of the show to pass 500,000 followers.

That spot goes to Daisy Kent.

She reached the milestone on Sunday, March 17. At the time of publication, @daisyykent had 516,000 followers.

Catch up on all the drama: How to watch ‘The Bachelor’ Women Tell All tonight, juicy spoilers on Joey's pick and more

How is the ‘Bachelorette’ chosen?

Many factors go into ABC's choosing of the next “Bachelorette.”

According to @bachelordata, here is a breakdown of when a Bachelorette was eliminated on their season of “The Bachelor”:

• Week 6: Katie Thurston.

• Week 7: Britt and Hannah Brown.

• Hometowns: Ali Fedotowsky, Desiree, Charity Lawson.

• Overnights: Jillian Harris, Ashley Hebert, Andi Dorfman, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Rachel Lindsey, Tayshia Adams, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.

• Finale: Emily Maynard, Clare Crawley, JoJo Fletcher, Becca Kufrin and Michelle Young.

If these stats are any indication, it seems as though Rachel Nance and perhaps Daisy Kent – if she does get eliminated during the finale – have the best chances of becoming the next “Bachelorette” as the highest number of picks come from Overnights and Finale eliminations.

Maria did have the most screen time compared to any other contestant on Season 28 of “The Bachelor” before the hometown visits, according to @bachelordata. She had close to 50 minutes which was about 24 more than anyone else.

The account also conducted an analysis of how likely a woman put in the “Last Seat” during the “Women Tell All” is to be the next “Bachelorette.”

They concluded that only 27% of women who got the last seat went on to become the next “Bachelorette.” This includes Charity Lawson, Katie Thurston, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Andi Dorfman and Jillian Harris. About 58% of future leads were in attendance at the “Women Tell All,” A total of 74% were eliminated during the “Overnights” episode or before.

Reach the reporter at dina.kaur@arizonarepublic.com. Follow @dina_kaur on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Who is the new 'Bachelorette'? How does the lead get chosen?