For obvious reasons that scarcely need to be illustrated or spelled out for readers, this is a very tough time in America right now.
And around the globe, of course.
At the risk of being disrespectful to such real-world problems, we're still a celebrity gossip website ... and we therefore are here with the sort of positive news that many readers could really use at the moment:
And that news is this:
Hannah Ann Sluss may still end up as The Bachelorette!
Someday, that is.
As you very well likely know, Clare Crawley has been chosen as the anchor for Season 16 of this beloved franchise, a rather puzzling and controversial selection in the eyes of many observers.
How did a 39-year old who hasn't been associated with Bachelor Nation for years end up with the gig, these critics are asking.
Especially when Hannah Ann just got dumped, dismissed and dissed on national television by Peter Weber and is deserving of her own shot in the suitor spotlight?
It's a question we've even posed to our readers, asking them to vote in the poll below and to response:
WHO DESERVES TO BE THE NEXT BACHELORETTE?
Clare Crawley has already been selected as The Bachelorette, but should the honor actually go to Hannah Ann Sluss? View Poll »
With Hannah Ann leading these poll results (by a huge margin!), many viewers have been hoping that the postponement of Bachelorette filming might mean that producers would reconsider.
This is their chance to replace Clare with Hannah Ann, right?
Wrong.
This isn't going to happen.
However, Chris Harrison has now said that fans shouldn't rule out the possibility of Sluss eventually ending up as The Bachelorette.
“There’s no such thing as a door closing," the legendary host told Life & Style this week, citing past examples of ABC stars from this franchise who later returned to lead it:
“Ask Nick Viall, ask Arie [Luyendyk Jr.], ask Clare [Crawley].
"The beautiful thing about our franchise now is back in the day, she may have missed that opportunity."
Sluss got engaged to Weber on The Bachelor finale, only to break up with him mere weeks later because his heart was clearly not into their relationship.
She then tore into the pilot in multiple interviews after the season ended.
"If you want to be with a woman, you need to become a real man," she even told him on stage at the After the Final Rose special.
Sluss later accused Peter of speaking in "half-truths" to her throughout the season, and concluded that is SO very over this loser pilot.
"It’s really helped me move forward because I know I deserve more than someone half loving me," Hannah Anna said on a recent podcast of her experience, concluding:
'I deserve someone that’s going to give me 100 percent.
"I felt like me being so clear and not playing mind games with him, that he would give me that in return. But really, he was just reckless with my heart."
Harrison, meanwhile, also sounded hopeful about Hannah Ann's future.
While basically confirming we'll see her again on TV this summer.
"So now, [Sluss is] going to get is another year older, another year wiser and maybe she finds love on [Bachelor in Paradise]," he teases.
