I'm Rooting Hard For Chris & Katie To Get Engaged After 'BiP'

Bachelor in Paradise is having a predictably bumpy season thus far, but nothing gets the contestants thinking about marriage like a Bachelor Nation wedding on the resort smack in the middle of the season. Chris "Goose" Randone and Krystal Nielson, who got engaged last summer and miraculously made it down the aisle, opted for a televised Bachelor in Paradise wedding. It has fans and contestants alike plotting the final rose ceremony and one question on everyone's mind is whether Chris and Katie get engaged at the end of Bachelor in Paradise.

They were certainly one of the strongest bonds formed early on in the season, and Chris is by far the readiest for marriage he's ever been. (Though, admittedly, the bar was on the floor for him in previous seasons.) A proposal would definitely be a killer ratings hook for the show — the franchise's most recycled contestant finally gets engaged at the end of a seven-year journey spanning five seasons across three different shows? The only logical conclusion if things don't work out between Chris and Katie is to make Chris the next Bachelor, which I feel 100 percent certain nobody wants (least of all, Chris himself).

Of course, the couples are required to keep mum about their post-show fraternizing until the season finale airs, so glimpses at Chris and Katie's social media don't reveal much about their current status. The strongest influence working against them is Katie's brief crisis of faith, in which she tried to be a "cool girl" and encourage Chris to go on other dates if asked. Chris was very happy with where he was at, thank you very much, but Katie stubbornly pushed him into a date with Jen Saviano, whose implausibly terrific facial proportions did eventually catch his eye.

As soon as Chris had settled into a flirtatious dynamic with another cast member, however, Katie realized she'd made a massive error in judgment. She actually really, really liked Chris and didn't want him going on other dates at all. Katie admitted that she only encouraged Chris toward other options to protect herself, and, in her defense, this is an incredibly common method of self-sabotage in Paradise. Eventually, however, the pair made it over their bump and Chris gave Katie a rose, eliminating Jen and her impossibly cute cheekbones for good.

A careful, frame-by-frame inspection of the Season 6 trailer reveals at least two, although probably three, pairs of hands offering or receiving engagement rings at the end of the season — one of which looks suspiciously like two sets of women's hands, I'm just saying. As Cosmopolitan.com points out, the last time BiP teased an unprecedented three engagements at the end of a season, back in Season 4, only one survived. (Bless and protect Carly and Evan.) But I actually think Chris and Katie have a strong chance of being engaged at the end of this season, both because they seem genuinely ready for it, and because it would finally mean a satisfying conclusion to Chris' journey.

Bachelor in Paradise airs Monday and Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.