The people have spoken, and they want Mike Johnson to be the next Bachelor. The fan favorite from Hannah Brown’s The Bachelorette season made viewers swoon with his big heart and even bigger smile.
He made his fellow castmates swoon, too—well, kinda. “I’m really hoping Mike’s the next Bachelor because I think he wears his heart on his sleeve,” says Dylan Barbour, who also appeared on Brown’s season and is slated to go on Bachelor in Paradise later this summer. “Based off the first impression, I was really intimidated by Mike. But after talking to him, he’s a great guy, he’s a real teddy bear, and he’s also strong at the same time. He’s intelligent and really in tune with himself, so I hope he’s able to have the opportunity to find love.”
Adds the infamously-named John Paul Jones, another contestant from this season: “I think it would be pretty cool to see Mike Johnson as the next Bachelor. I think he’s definitely a fan favorite, and there’s never been an African American Bachelor, so that would be interesting to watch.”
Jones is right: Johnson would be the first black Bachelor, but also the first veteran Bachelor. (He served in the Air Force.) ABC has the potential to make history by selecting Johnson—but how does he feel about the gig? We caught up with him during the taping of the Bachelorette “Men Tell All” episode, which aired tonight (July 22).
Read, below, to get his thoughts on that, plus why he “slid into Luke’s DMs.”
Glamour: A lot of the guys would like to see you as the next Bachelor.
Mike Johnson: It’s really cool the guys would like to see me as the next Bachelor. I know that Hannah said I was the leader in the house, which was not something I was trying to do. That was just me throughout. It’s awesome people feel that or say that, whether it’s Bachelor Nation or my castmates. I’m grateful they say that.
You would do it, wouldn’t you?
M.J.: I don’t know that, honestly. I don’t know that.
OK. Why the hesitation?
M.J.: The hesitation is because I don’t do it for…to be the first veteran Bachelor, I would do it because I feel the 30 potential suitors are there for the right reasons. I know that in Bachelor and Bachelorette, love can happen in this process. I just want to make sure the 30 suitors are there for the right reasons as well.