The Bachelorette Is Adding A Major Twist For Next Season

ABC’s Bachelorette and Bachelor franchises have kept things interesting over the years, but next season the long-running reality competition series is throwing a big twist into the mix. During last night’s Bachelor finale, ABC revealed that not just one lady will star in the new season of The Bachelorette. Instead, two young women will be competing for the affections of men on the new season. Bachelor favorites Britt Nilsson and Kaitlyn Bristow will both be looking for true love when The Bachelorette returns to the schedule this spring.

So, how could that work exactly? Instead of a slew of men competing for one women’s affection, there will be 25 men deciding which woman they like better. The press release for the upcoming Season 11 mentions that both Britt and Kaitlyn will go on dates with the gentlemen in the house, but as you know, there can only be one winner on The Bachelorette, and only one of the women will be left to hand out the final rose by the end of the series. The details are a little slim regarding how the whole thing will pan out, but regardless, somehow ABC has figured out how to have a competition within a competition. I’m guessing all of this will lead to even more drama than usual.

The whole premise does sort of suck for Britt Nilsson and Kaitlyn Bristow, though. Both women made big impressions on The Bachelor; Britt did well early on thanks to an awkward but extremely memorable hug.

In addition, Kaitlyn was a fan-favorite throughout The Bachelor’s 19th season. Both women made it fairly far in the competition, as well. Britt was eliminated during the seventh week while Kaitlyn was eliminated during the ninth week. Getting asked to be on The Bachelorette was probably a dream for the two rebuffed contestants, as they would theoretically be controlling the romance during the new episodes. However, now they have to compete with one another for airtime and for romance, as well.

ABC is currently being pretty vague about how the new season will pan out. Luckily, we don’t have too much longer to wait to meet Britt and Kaitlyn’s potential new beaus. The Bachelorette will hit the schedule on Monday, May 18 for a special two-hour episode from 9-11 p.m. ET. Then, on Tuesday, May 19, fans will get a second dose when The Bachelorette airs from 8-9 p.m. ET. Chris Harrison will continue to host. We’ll let you know about more details as ABC reveals them. In the meantime, check out more premiere dates, here.

Photo Credit @ ABC

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.