Um, Apparently Chrishell Was Almost The Bachelorette Years Ago & I'm Shook

Chrishell Stause is currently competing on Season 29 of Dancing With the Stars, but apparently, she almost had men competing for her heart on The Bachelorette several years ago. During an Oct. 27 episode of Nick Viall's podcast, The Viall Files, ABC executive Robert Mills revealed Chrishell Stause was almost the Bachelorette for Season 4 before DeAnna Pappas was chosen. "I've actually had lunch with Chrishell — this was about 10 or 11 years ago — to talk about being the Bachelorette," Mills told Viall. "...At that point we didn't know who it was going to be, so we were looking for people and our casting director said, 'We should meet with this girl Chrishell Stause, she's amazing.'"

Though Mills was convinced Stause would make the perfect Bachelorette, things changed after Brad Womack's season of The Bachelor. In a controversial move, Womack ended up letting both finalists go, one of whom was fan fave Pappas. Bachelor Nation rallied around Pappas, and Mills realized not casting her as the Bachelorette would be a mistake. "At that point, it was like, 'How do we not do that?'" Mills said of Pappas. And of course, if Stause had ended up as the Season 4 Bachelorette, the franchise could look very different right now.

During Season 4 of The Bachelorette, which aired in 2008, fans were introduced to runner-up Jason Mesnick, who went on to become the Season 13 Bachelor. Mesnick's second runner-up, Jillian Harris, then became the Season 5 Bachelorette, while a contestant from her season, Jake Pavelka, was tapped as the Season 14 Bachelor, and... well, you get the idea.

Viall, who was the Season 21 Bachelor after appearing on Seasons 10 and 11 of The Bachelorette, referred to it as the Bachelor "butterfly effect," joking, "I might not be the Bachelor. … [I'd be in Wisconsin] selling software, being some sort of mid-level manager." Basically, if Stause had been picked over Pappas, Viall might have never become a part of Bachelor Nation, which is a sad thought.

Instead of becoming the Bachelorette, Stause went on to meet her (now-ex) Justin Harley and become a cast member on Netflix's Selling Sunset. Her marriage may not have gone as planned, but it seems to me Stause is thriving right now. As she told People in September 2020, she's ready to put herself back out there following her divorce. "I'm a hopeless romantic, so I think it can still happen," she said. "It's 2020, maybe you could meet your person through an Instagram DM. I don't know. Crazier things have happened!"

LMK if you want to sign my petition to make Stause the Season 17 Bachelorette.