The Bachelor hasn’t seen someone like Maria Georgas in years. The 29-year-old executive assistant from Ontario, Canada is the kind of contestant who keeps us all on our toes: One minute, she’s making fun of our leading man Joey Graziadei’s taste in movies, and the next she’s “slipping into something more comfortable” in a group date. This week, she even managed to playfully trick him into saying “I love you” in French. On top of all this, she’s been front-and-center all season, which leads us to the obvious question: Could she be ABC’s next Bachelorette?
To a Bachelor novice, all this screen time Maria’s been getting might seem like a sign she’s the winner, but us long-haulers know better. Usually, the show’s production team will do a good job of hiding the actual winner behind a few other contestants who get all the screen time. The women we see popping up a lot early on tend to be on their way to one of two destinations—their own season, or the beaches of Bachelor in Paradise.
For my money, Maria would be a fantastic Bachelorette. For one thing, she’s an absolute firecracker, which would set her apart from many of the contestants who’ve historically gotten the role. (The world of The Bachelor/ette tends to favor polite “girls next door” over bigger, edgier personalities—which sometimes works out great and sometimes turns out very boring!) This week, Joey called Maria an “enigma” he could never quite figure out, and it’s that exact ability to keep men on their toes that could make her Bachelorette season a stand-out.
Still, there are some compelling reasons to think Maria is headed for BiP’s Playa Escondida Resort. She’s been involved in a lot more drama this season than most Bachelorettes, largely thanks to the now-eliminated meddler Sydney. And while Maria got an absolute dream date this week in Montreal, where she confessed to Joey that she’s falling for him in ways she didn’t expect, we still haven’t learned all that many deep things about her, as compared to most women who wind up leading their own season. (Although, that said, we should all be so lucky as to have a Bachelorette who once appeared in the seminal cinematic work The Pacifier!)
But producers are clearly planning something big with Maria in the future. Why else would she get the absolute best date of the season? First, she and Joey went shopping for a gorgeous gown from Claudette Floyd, and then they went for a helicopter ride over Montreal. At dinner, she recalled a past relationship where her partner “dangled” an engagement over her head but was never quite ready. “I just want somebody to say what they want and mean it,” she told Joey. “Say what they mean, mean what they say.”
Joey is clearly feeling it, so she’ll presumably stick around for at least a while longer. And then, as if all that wasn’t enough, the two got to enjoy their own private Feist show, where they slow-danced the night away.
As surprising as it might be for someone as playful and brash as Maria to lead her own season, the move would not be unprecedented in Bachelor Nation. Hannah Brown was a “big” personality who annoyed a lot of people during Colton Underwood’s Bachelor season before redeeming herself with one of the most entertaining Bachelorette runs in history. Similarly, Katie Thurston had her share of detractors in the house during Matt James’s Bachelor outing, but she still went on to be Bachelorette before hopping over to the CW for the most recent season of FBoy Island.
Whatever happens, and wherever she goes, Maria is bound to entertain. This longtime viewer and recapper is hoping for a standalone season, but if we must settle for Maria taking the beach by storm on Bachelor in Paradise, well, that’ll be just fine, too. Either way, let’s just hope none of the guys are big Remember the Titans fans.
