If you’ve been paying even an ounce of attention to this season of The Bachelor, you’ll know that Peter has narrowed it down to the final three contestants, and things are looking BLEAK. We have Victoria F, who has a rap sheet longer than my longest relationship and can’t have an adult conversation without gaslighting Peter, Madison, who’s probably going to skip the fantasy suite to go to church, and Hannah Ann, who definitely already has her eye on her next lucrative modeling gig. If you watch this show because you want to see true love, then this season has been a clear disappointment. But now, there’s a pervasive rumor that involves Peter finding love after all, and I’m 100% here for it.
If you’re the kind of person who happily reads spoilers, then you’ll know that this season has been dubbed ~the unspoilable season~. Chris Harrison has said that they figured out a way to make this season unspoilable, and so far, even Reality Steve hasn’t been able to figure it out. But the big rumor these days is that Peter actually ends up with Julie LaPlaca, one of the Bachelor producers. Dun dun DUN.
This rumor has been circulating for a couple weeks now, and it started mostly as unverified Reddit tea, but now it’s picked up steam and it’s not going anywhere. There’s evidence going all the way back to New Year’s Eve (we’ll get to that in a second), but just yesterday, Peter was spotted at a winery in LA with LaPlaca and his mom. Page Six got ahold of the video, and now my faith is restored in humanity. They’re drinking wine and dancing, clearly having a good time together. Honestly, you love to see it.
Now, considering that Peter literally brought Madison to his parents’ vow renewal on their first date, the fact that Julie met his mom doesn’t mean much, but it still seems suspicious AF. But wait! Yesterday wasn’t even the first time Julie LaPlaca has met his mom! Close your eyes, and come back in time with me to New Year’s Eve, 2020. Actually, don’t close your eyes, because you’re reading an article, but you get the idea.
On January 2nd, Peter’s dad (whose Insta handle @747flyr is my favorite thing) posted a photo of his family at lunch on New Year’s Eve in New York. We’ve got the whole gang—mom, dad, brother, AND JULIE. That’s right, the Bachelor producer in question went to a NYE lunch with Peter and his family before the show even started airing! She’s even tagged in the photo! God bless Peter’s dad for not signing the same NDA that Peter did, and for not deleting the photo when the rumors started going around.
On that same trip to New York, Julie posted a photo of herself in Times Square. Cute! She looks happy, which is way more than I could say of myself if you made me spend New Year’s Eve in Times f*cking Square. But you see that man over her shoulder, on the left? The dedicated detectives of the internet figured out that, yeah, that’s Pilot Pete. They were clearly together for the whole day on New Year’s Eve, and we all know what’s supposed to happen at midnight. Adding another layer to the whole theory, Hannah Brown also commented “I approve” on this photo. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, but MAYBE IT DOES.
If they are together, Peter and Julie have kept things pretty low-key since New Year’s, which makes sense, considering he’s currently starring in a show dedicated to him finding love, and Julie isn’t even one of the options. I’m sure that his social media activity in the past couple months has been heavily controlled by ABC, but I don’t think they’ll be upset if these rumors are true. Imagine the ratings! Imagine the tabloid coverage! Imagine the articles that I myself will write! Because this is crazy! Like, there were 30 deeply thirsty women there all laying their lives influencer careers on the line to try and get Peter’s attention, and he went with the producer! In terms of drama, this is the chance for the show to truly peak.
And Chris Harrison, one of my favorite messy bitches who lives for drama, hasn’t done much to quiet the rumors. This week, he was stopped at LAX by the paparazzi, and asked about the Peter/Julie rumor. After saying that Julie is a great person and producer, he responded to the drama by saying, “Far be from me to get in the middle of a good rumor.” Yeah, okay Chris. Obviously, he’s not going to spoil his own show, but he’s not denying it either.
He fueled the conversation even more on Tuesday, when he posted a photo of himself with Peter and Julie that was taken during filming. Obviously, we know that Julie was around during filming, so the photo itself isn’t shocking, but Chris knows exactly what he’s doing here.
At this point, I’m hoping the rumor is true, because Peter seems like a nice guy, and there’s a zero percent chance he’s getting married to any of these other women. Sorry, but it’s true. Luckily, we only have to wait a few more weeks to see it all play out on the show, because I’m really losing my patience with all these people. In the mean time, Peter, you should probably avoid public places with Julie, because everyone is watching!
Images: Shutterstock; Page Six; 747flyr, julielaplaca, chrisbharrison / Instagram
