While a lot of us (Sweetest Betch You’ll Ever Meet and It’s Britney, Betch) are saying a prayer of thanks that Mike Fleiss has finally granted us reprieve from six hours of reality television every week, others (me, Brett Vergara) are still reeling from the revelation that Peter will be the next Bachelor. Now, don’t get me wrong, on any other season, Peter would have been a great choice. I’m glad they didn’t pull some bullsh*t and revive some random dude from the dead (or, in Bachelor terms, five years ago). And, to be clear, Peter is a fine choice for Bachelor. He made it to the top three on Hannah’s season, and he seems like a perfectly nice guy. But notice the lack of enthusiasm here? That’s because I, like many people, were hoping against all hope that this would be the year that ABC would finally do something different. That they’d choose a Bachelor who wasn’t the human incarnation of mayonnaise on Wonder Bread. And this time, it actually seemed likely! I was fighting a losing battle last year, hoping they’d choose Wills for Bachelor. But this year, we had Mike Johnson. We had Mike’s smile. We had Mike calling women queens. It seemed that our dreams of having a diverse Bachelor may finally become reality. And then they didn’t. Now, Mike Johnson is finally speaking out about getting passed over for the Bachelor gig, on Bachelor Happy Hour with Rachel & Ali, Rachel Lindsay and Ali Fedotowsky’s podcast.
Rachel first asks Mike if he was, in fact, in talks to be the next Bachelor, or if we all just wildly projected. He answered, “I was 100% in talks to be the next Bachelor.” So that settles that—ABC was considering switching it up, and ultimately decided not to. I think I speak for all of us when I say: Y tho???
He added, “people probably didn’t think I was considered to be the Bachelor because I was trying to be so respectful of the crew at Bachelor world and I didn’t want to speak about it.” He then explained that Peter didn’t do interviews after The Bachelorette, so he didn’t have to answer questions about being the next Bachelor all the time. Mike then goes on to say that he definitely wanted the gig. “I 100% wanted to be the Bachelor,” he said. “Reasons being: One, I do want to find a wife. Two, it was bigger than me and I wanted to represent for all people of color. And then, also, talking about people of color, they need to have an Asian Bachelor, they need to have an Indian Bachelor. They need to have other people outside of just black and white. And so I want to speak on that as well.” Ugh, I stan a woke king. Remind me why they didn’t choose this guy again?! This is a crime against humanity.
So Mike affirms that he definitely did audition to be the Bachelor, and he wanted it, but he ultimately wasn’t chosen. And he kind of found out in the crappiest way possible: on TV, like the rest of us. “I found out in the trailers, before you do on the Bachelor in Paradise reunion,” he said. Damn, they couldn’t have given him a phone call? He admitted, “When I first found out, I’m not gonna lie, I was sad. I was annoyed when I very first found out. But then by the end of the night, I wasn’t annoyed no more because I was appreciative and thankful that they told me no right then and there because now I could focus on myself and I’m just blessed because I know I’m gonna find my wife and find my claim.” Well, that’s a lot more graceful than I would be. Personally I would have probably followed through on my many threats to burn down ABC. One of these days, I’m going to do it for real!!
Obviously, Mike had some opinions on why they chose Peter instead—but they are annoyingly vague. He said, “ultimately, it just came down to, they chose the right person for what they want.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?? Is “what they want” to placate middle America types who can’t handle seeing a non-white person on their television? Please, I need more information.
But we all know now that you can’t always get what you want (if what you want is diversity in Bachelor Nation). And now it doesn’t really matter, because Mike is seeing Demi Lovato. And of course Rachel asked about it (doing the Lord’s work). He admitted he and Demi have met in person “more than one time”. What does that mean!! Stop being coy! The people demand it.
He gushed over Demi, saying, “I think she’s amazing. She’s incredibly humble.” He added, “When Demi and I are together, it’s laughter and we talk about real sh*t. Like, she’s a down-to-earth woman and I respect it so much. And she’s just a really humble, really cool, really fun, down-to-earth person.”
Cool, cool, cool. I don’t know why I’m crying in the club at my desk right now. Next, Rachel asked what we’ve all been thinking ever since Mike posted that thirsty comment on Demi’s Insta: “What is the status of your relationship with Demi Lovato?” Here’s what Mike said:
“My status of the relationship with Demi and I are that we are two people exploring each other.”
Oooookayyyy, seriously? “Two people exploring each other” sounds like what you’d say about the person who taught you how to give a blow job as a teenager at summer camp. But, okay fine, it makes sense that Mike wouldn’t say he and Demi dating or anything, considering it’s been, like, two weeks since they have been in contact (that we know of).
SO this interview basically reaffirmed to me that Mike would have been a great Bachelor, but that we do not deserve him. And Peter will be cool I guess. It could have been worse—they could have chosen Blake. Listen to the full interview with Mike Johnson here.
