ABC Reveals Peter Kraus Could Still Be ‘The Bachelor’ After Arie Luyendyk Jr. Blindside
Peter Kraus has missed his chance to be the star of The Bachelor — for now. While Rachel Lindsay’s Bachelorette runner-up was a frontrunner for the leading man role on ABC’s rose-filled reality show, Peter was passed over for franchise alum Arie Luyendyk Jr. Now, the Hollywood Reporter reveals that Bachelor producers have not completely closed the door on Peter Kraus, despite his hesitation to propose to Rachel Lindsay on camera.
According to THR, Kraus was at the top of the list to be the next Bachelor star and was in serious talks for the gig. Kraus only found out he didn’t get the spot a few days before Luyendyk’s casting was announced. Not only that, Peter didn’t even know that Arie, a castoff from Emily Maynard’s Bachelorette season five years ago, was in the running for the job. Peter found out that Arie Luyendyk Jr. was the new star when the announcement was made on Good Morning America last week.
Sources told THR that producers were hesitant to cast Peter in the Bachelor role due to his hesitation about ending his potential season with a proposal. Now, it seems as though Peter Kraus played a little too hard to get.
The day before the GMA announcement about the new Bachelor lead, Peter Kraus tweeted a telling comment, which in hindsight looks like his response to being told he didn’t get the Bachelor gig.
Never let fear hold you back. Lesson learned.
— Peter Kraus (@peterkrauswi) September 7, 2017
A few days later, Kraus took to Instagram to express his thoughts on his reality TV roller-coaster ride.
“As I sit here writing this, I struggle to hold back the tears as I am overcome with emotion one last time,” Kraus wrote.
“ABC, you saw something in me, but something held me back. You treated me with such love and kindness and showed me glimpses of a life I never once dreamed that I could have. I will be forever humbled and grateful and will always look back at these last 6 months with an ear to ear smile, knowing that this has truly been a very special life indeed.”
Kraus also reiterated that fear has held him back and warned others not to do the same.
“When you let uncertainty or fear guide your decisions, you risk missing out on what could potentially be the greatest opportunity of a life time,” Peter wrote. “So live dangerously, live without the fear of the unknown, and continue to live and love with a heart that is truly open to anything.”
ABC programming head Rob Mills told Entertainment Tonight that while Kraus wasn’t “100 percent ready” to headline The Bachelor so soon after his gut-wrenching experience on The Bachelorette, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t be considered in the future.
“We’ll always be in touch with Peter, and there might be a time… It might be a year from now, when it’s better for him,” Mills told ET.
“It was all about timing. Peter was an incredible fan favorite, which I think was great, but I also think the double-edged sword with that is, if it’s not the season that the fans want, which might have been if Peter might not have been ready to commit 100 percent, that’s also disappointing, and it would have been disappointing for Peter too.”
Of course, some Bachelor fans have questioned Peter’s motives from the beginning. Kraus’ high school yearbook photo surfaced with a caption about his desire to be on The Bachelor someday. Despite his teen Bachelor dream, during her After the Final Rose episode, Rachel told Peter that the Bachelor franchise isn’t for him.
ABC ultimately dug into their archives to resurrect Arie Luyendyk, proving that the shelf life for a potential Bachelor star is at least five years. That may be how much time Peter Kraus needs to decide if he wants to commit — or remain a committed bachelor, instead.
Take a look at the video below for more on Peter Kraus’s feelings on being The Bachelor.
[Featured Image by Paul Hebert/ABC]
