Our last The Bachelorette season finale left most fans feeling pretty frustrated. JoJo had whittled her season down to Jordan, a highly suspicious, potentially fame-seeking bad boy who walked away from the season with an ESPN job, and Robbie, a widely disliked bro who came on strong too early and somehow weaseled his way into the final two, in spite of being generally humorless and without charm. It wasn't exactly a fun finale for viewers to watch play out, but Rachel Lindsay is setting us up for a much more hopeful turnout. So will Peter win The Bachelorette? He's one of a few favorites Bachelor Nation is keeping an eye on.
The extremely handsome personal trainer (and retired model) is ridiculously charming, has an adorable gap-toothed grin, and possesses a body that is somehow equally satisfying to look at in a suit as in a hot tub. Also, unlike Rachel's bevy of men constantly pestering her for kisses and hugs, Peter is really good at hanging back and waiting for Rachel to ask for affection. (Her quietly whispered "Can you please kiss me?", voiced so low that editors actually had to caption the scene, was a remarkably vulnerable moment for this self-described in-control-at-all-times, guarded Bachelorette.)
Peter even manages to be self-assured without being aggressive, which is no easy feat in a house full of dudes all vying for one woman's attention. In fact, he specifically called out Bryan (another one of the three fan favorites) for being borderline obnoxiously suave.
"Bryan comes across as a little too smooth," said Peter in a clip. "I think she needs a leader. I think she needs a guy who has genuine confidence that's not arrogance or cockiness."
He's talking about the moment Bryan said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that Will could have his "sloppy seconds," in reference to the fact that Bryan had already kissed Rachel. It could have been read as a harmlessly playful joke, but it's heartening to see Peter bristle against the possessiveness, slut-shaming, and misogyny baked into the idea of "sloppy seconds." It's encouraging that he's aware enough of those harmful ideas about women to respond negatively to another frontrunner in the house who seems to think lightly of perpetuating them as "jokes."
Needless to say, Peter is serious Bachelor material, but he's come out and said that he's on the show to win The Bachelorette, not to be the the Bachelor. For fans who adore him, it's hard to decide which outcome to root for.
