What If Ben Higgins Is The Bachelor Again?

Would you be into Ben Higgins 2.0? At least one high-ranking member of Bachelor Nation is thinking about it.

Rob Mills, ABC's wonderfully candid Senior Vice President of unscripted programming, appeared on the Ringer's podcast Bachelorette Party yesterday to talk about Rachel's season, and the conversation turned to who the next Bachelor will be. Interestingly, Mills floated the idea of Ben Higgins starring again.

Theoretically, there's no reason why the popular 20th Bachelor couldn't look for love on the show again now that he and Lauren Bushnell split in May. And as Bachelorette Party host Juliet Litman pointed out, Ben is a perfect candidate to be a two-time Bachelor.

"The thing about Ben is that he would actually be good, because he takes lessons and tries to change his behavior and become a better person all the time, so I think he would be different in round two, similar to how Brad [Womack, the only two-time Bachelor so far] was different in round two," Litman said.

She added that Ben would definitely be more interesting than Peter, the likely next Bachelor, who is handsome but doesn't have a strong personality. And the other big contender for the next Bachelor, Bryan, is such a loud, aggressive kisser that it would be unpleasant to watch him for a whole season of make-out sessions.

While I agree with Litman, I would add that if Ben were to come back for another round, it should probably be for the 2019 Bachelor cycle. His breakup with Lauren is still very fresh, and it wouldn't feel right for him to jump back in so soon. The best option would be to let Peter or Bryan have their go this year, pray that the next season of The Bachelorette is full of duds that nobody wants to watch lead their own season, have Ben go on Bachelor in Paradise next summer to build some heat and then have him do The Bachelor again in the fall.

To be clear, this is all speculation and fantasy. Mills said they haven't talked to Ben about it (yet) and don't know if he'd be interested. At some point Ben will probably come out and say he won't do it (or maybe he'll surprise us and say he'd be interested), but until that happens, let's have fun and imagine it.