#Will The Bachelor Franchise End After This Season!? Former Contestant Blake Horstmann Has A HOT Take!

Former Bachelorette contestant Blake Horstmann shocked the reality TV world on Tuesday when he took to his Instagram Stories and pontificated in a live video about whether or not the longtime ABC show had a future!

Wait, WHAT?! After 25 seasons of The Bachelor and popular off-shoots like The Bachelorette, Bachelor In Paradise, and Winter Games, could it really be coming to an end??

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For what it’s worth, Horstmann makes it clear that his opinion is a SERIOUSLY hot take — i.e., he’s not aware of any behind-the-scenes grumblings about canceling the series or anything. But still, the case he makes is an interesting one. And things do run their course after a while…

The 27-year-old Colorado-born hunk revealed that he thought Michelle Young‘s upcoming season of The Bachelorette could be the show’s final frontier. He explained his reasoning, citing Chris Harrison‘s drama and (temporary?) departure, telling fans (below):

“Nothing lasts forever, but also … I think there won’t be another Bachelor season. I think it’ll end after Michelle. Whether you think it’s right, wrong, whatever your stance is on the [Harrison scandal] — I think it drove away a lot of loyal fans and viewers. They’re really not going to watch the show. Ratings are going to plummet.”

Um… wow!

Blake is (broadly) correct in realizing that nothing lasts forever, but was the show really so built up around Harrison as host that it won’t be able to survive long-term if he departs?? He wasn’t kidding, that is a really hot take. We know Chris is popular, even after the whole Rachael Kirkconnell–Matt James fiasco that got him in hot water in the first place, but is the 49-year-old Texan this popular?? Yikes!!!

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Besides, it seems to us like Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe have all the skills necessary to co-host well enough for Michelle’s upcoming season. Don’t they?! So what gives???

Also, no shade to Chris or his lovely replacements, but it’s not that hard of a job to walk in once or twice an episode and say, “ladies, this is the final rose of the night.” Ya know?? Heck, give US the job and we will run with it! LOLz!

Seriously, though, what do y’all make of Blake’s pessimistic stance on the future of the show that made him famous, Perezcious readers?!

Oh by the way… late Tuesday night the former reality star tried to take the heat off after his comments started flying around on social media. As you can see (below), Blake seriously tried to do some damage control in a new set of IG Stories responding to his initial cancellation guess:

Yeahhhhhh… Maybe log off for a while, big guy! At this point it might do ya some good.

Just saying!!!

As for y’all, sound OFF down in the comments (below) with your reaction to this wild opinion!

Could Blake be on to something here, or nah??

[Image via Blake Horstmann/Instagram/Chris Harrison/Instagram]