Katie Thurston knows how to garner attention.
This much is certain.
The question now facing ABC executives, however, amid very strong speculation that Thurston will soon be named the next Bachelorette, is this:
Does the network really want to dive head deep into the sort of attention Katie Thurston typically attracts?
As you may now by now, it's become a given that Katie Thurston will be the next Bachelorette.
None other than Reality Steve -- the one, only and unmatched Spoilers Guru -- reported this week that Thurston was announced as the upcoming lead at the Women Tell All taping.
This decision makes sense on many levels.
Thurston stood up against her fellow suitors during her time as a suitor on this season of The Bachelor, telling them off for acting as bullies.
She's outspoken. She's beautiful. And she's unafraid.
Katie, remember, carried a dildo with her upon first meeting Matt James.
"This pandemic was really hard for me and this just really got me through a lot, and I was hoping to pass the torch to you," Katie of the sex toy, which she referred to as a "special item" on the Season 25 opener.
James laughed, and then Thurston rescinded the shocking offer as follows:
"After seeing how you look and knowing that the Fantasy Suite is so far away, I actually am going to need it just for a little bit longer."
WOWZA, right?
We later learned that Thurston posted some explicit content while quaranting amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
"Be honest who's masturbating more than they normally do?" Thurston asked on TikTok last year. "I swear there was a day where I did it three times, just because I was bored and I could."
She continued at the time:
"I went to PornHub for the first time. That was an experience. I'll save that for another video...
"But yeah last night, my phone fell off the nightstand, by itself. And so my first thought was that was a f**king ghost."
Wait, what?!?
"Like if this ghost wanted to f**k me like I would let him or her like whatever just... just you're a ghost. I don't care. It'd be the most action I've had in months," added Katie.
"I was like where does this stem from. And then I remembered Casper.
"Casper was the first movie where I started feeling like tingly feelings over a cartoon."
You can see the debate network executives are therefore having, right?
Thurston is independent and strong-willed.... but she also spoke openly about sleeping with an apparition and about bringing herself to orgasm.
“Production was divided on selecting Katie as The Bachelorette, it was not unanimous,” an insider tells The Sun, adding:
"Some producers realize the show needs a strong, sexually confident woman who will put a man in his place if he needs to be, similar to Hannah Brown.
"And that’s who Katie has appeared to be. They want another Hannah Brown and Katie ticks the boxes and then some."
Brown, if you'll recall, slept with Peter Weber four times in one night inside of a windmill.
She also bragged that she loves to have sex and, hey, Jesus Christ still loves her.
Sadly, Hannah was often sex-shamed for her views and behavior.
By all accounts, though, the show is prepared to move forward with Thurston as the anchor, even if Chris Harrison won't admit it right now.
“There’s no saying how the general Bachelor audience will react," the above source concludes.
"It’s a gamble but it looks like with current social conversation the way it is, production will take the risk.”
Should it, though?
