Bachelor Nation barely got to know Joe Amabile, but there is already a campaign to make him the next star of The Bachelor . Amabile, who is known as Grocery Store Joe to Bachelorette fans, is getting a major push from a famous beverage company in a quest for him to headline the next season of the ABC reality show.
Joe Amabile didn’t make it past the premiere night cocktail party on Becca Kufrin’s season of the show. The flustered grocery store owner screwed up his introduction to Becca during the limo meet and greets, so she sent him packing in the first round for fear he would never be comfortable in front of ABC’s cameras. But Bachelorette fans quickly demanded #JusticeforGroceryStoreJoe.
Now, Anheuser-Busch beverage line RITAs, which makes canned flavored margaritas with names like Lime-A-Rita, Mang-O-Rita and more, has launched a campaign that calls for Grocery Store Joe be the star of the 2019 season of The Bachelor . According to People , RITAS posted billboards in Amabile’s Chicago hometown which declare that he deserves to find multiple women who “appreciate your fruit.”
The beverage line also released a line of apparel in honor of Grocery Store Joe, including logo T-shirts and a tote bag. A representative for RITAS confirmed that the campaign is not in direct partnership with Amabile, but noted that Bachelor Nation closely aligns with the brand’s target demographic, and the company wanted to provide consumers mourning the early Bachelorette exit of Amabile with ” a platform to make their voices heard.”
Who needs one? #TheBachelorette #BringBackJoe pic.twitter.com/sGUcx9C5ZJ
— The RITAS (@TheRITAS) June 19, 2018
While he didn’t make a great first impression on Becca Kufrin, Joe Amabile wowed Bachelorette fans with his intro video, which included the line, “I deal in produce, but one thing I haven’t produced yet is love.”
It would be unprecedented for Joe Amabile to be cast as the next Bachelor star. And even with the Anheuser-Busch backing, it seems a bit unlikely. The rose-filled reality show usually sticks to a predictable format of casting a high-placing Bachelorette runner-up—usually a guy who at least made it to the hometown dates—as the lead for the next cycle of the series. The franchise broke that format with the most recent season of The Bachelor starring Arie Luyendyk Jr., but if the Bachelor powers-that-be are really ready to shake things up, perhaps they will give an early evictee like Grocery Store Joe a chance to find love.
The Bachelor airs on ABC.
