‘Bachelor in Paradise’: Does Mike Johnson Showing up on Paradise Hurt His Chances of Being the Next Bachelor?
Welcome to Paradise. Where the sand is nice and the water is warm, but the hookups are even hotter. If you’re unfamiliar with the lay of the land, here is the gist of it.
A cast of Bachelor and Bachelorette fan favorites and villains are thrust onto a beach in Mexico in the hopes of finding “the one.” The power switches from week to week, from the men to the women. At the end of each week, each person has to find someone to give them a rose or they are sent home. As if that wasn’t already nerve-wracking enough, new contestants are brought in randomly throughout the season to shake things up.
Who is Mike Johnson?
Mike Johnson, a man beloved by many, will be appearing on Paradise this season. We first met Johnson when he was competing for Hannah Brown’s heart on her season of The Bachelorette. From the moment he flashed his award-winning smile, fans were all about him.
Once Brown sent him home, viewers immediately started campaigning to have him as the next Bachelor.
And even host Chris Harrison seemed to be on board with the choice.
“Of course he’s a contender [for Bachelor],” Harrison told People. “How could he not be a contender with that smile? He’s one of my favorite people we’ve ever had on the show. He’s a love of a man. I don’t know him that well, and I consider him a really good friend.”
“He’s just a sweet guy,” he continued. “He gives the best hugs, the best smiles, and the best advice. He’s just a really good man and yeah, of course, he’s a contender.”
And the ABC executives also have a thing for Johnson.
“He’s absolutely in contention to be The Bachelor. … He is just somebody that people really love,” Rob Mills, ABC’s Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming told Entertainment Tonight. “He’s got a great story. We have somebody who has served our country, has really suffered through heartbreak. … You’ve got a billion-dollar smile and he looks great.”
But now that he’s on Paradise, he may not be as much of a shoo-in for the role as we thought.
Does being on ‘Paradise’ hurt Johnson’s chances?
Going on Paradise gives audiences the chance to get to know contestants more. But for someone vying for the role of Bachelor, that might not necessarily be a good thing.
Just take a look at Blake Horstmann. Before Paradise, he was a fan favorite who many viewers would have liked to see get a chance to become the Bachelor. But now that he’s on Paradise and it’s come out that he has been sleeping with multiple women in the cast back to back, people’s views of him have completely changed.
The same thing happened with Dean Unglert a few seasons ago. Bachelor nation was primed to see him as the Bachelor until he went on Paradise and had a relationship with Kristina Schulman and Danielle Lombard at the same time.
Though it’s risky to go on Paradise when you want to be the Bachelor, it doesn’t automatically take you out of the running. Nick Viall and Colton Underwood both became Bachelors after their stint in Paradise.
So, if Johnson can play nice and manage not to fall in love on the beach, we may still be seeing him handing out roses this fall.
