Arie Luyendyk Jr. is a “risky and exciting” Bachelor pick -- he’s been absent from the franchise so long he can shake things up

The Ringer

“That relative blank slate” is what makes Arie interesting, says Andrew Gruttadaro. “With him, The Bachelor is (slightly) hitting the reset button, which it’s desperately needed to do. For the last few years, the franchise has been stuck in the Nick Viall era of self-aware, self-involved guys and girls, and the shows have lost some energy because of it. Seasons have felt like pained slogs, rather than oblivious, melodramatic fun. Rachel Lindsay was quite possibly the best Bachelorette in history, and her season was a dud, bereft of any compelling story lines or magnetic characters. It says a lot that the best choice for Bachelor from Rachel’s season was a guy who openly flouted the show’s fantasy. So now The Bachelor goes with a guy who was pre-Viall, who fully bought into the franchise’s prepackaged concept of love in 2012, and who might be able to restore the show to its rightful form.”

PLUS: ABC exec explains the Arie pick, Peter Kraus reacts to the news, Arie and Bachelor villain Courtney Robertson were recently dating, and Kaitlyn Bristowe reveals she didn’t want Nick Viall in her Final 2.