Before this season of The Bachelor even started, I knew I was rooting for Bekah M. From her picture and Instagram presence alone, I was hooked, because I felt like she was someone I could actually relate to. A funny, self-deprecating, smart, and most of all, genuine contestant can be hard to come by, so let me make this easy: if you love Bekah M. from The Bachelor, then get ready to root for Lily McManus.
The New Zealand native joins the cast of the first season of The Bachelor Winter Games when it kicks off this Tuesday, but Kiwis will recognize her from the most recent season of The Bachelor NZ. The 21-year-old (!!) made it to the final two for Bachelor Zac Franich, but he ultimately chose Viarni Bright. His loss is our gain, however, because a quick look at McManus' Instagram proves that she's going to be the best part of the four-part winter spin-off.
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"To all the 12/10 people that I met, to the family that I made, thanks for ruining my brain cells with your interview questions, thanks for putting up with my shit, sorry for all the trouble I intentionally caused, thanks for the laughs and more importantly thanks for the love," she wrote in an Instagram post following The Bachelor NZ finale. "To everyone that's been sending their love and to everyone who has been personally offended by my table manners, thank you!"
I can't find evidence of bad table manners, but I did find a whole lot of photos like these, which are even better:
McManus is part of what is increasingly revealing itself to be a new generation of Bachelor contestants. The kind who grew up on social media, the kind who have been on it long enough to not take it seriously, and the kind who have seen enough episodes of The Bachelor already to know that finding love shouldn't be the number one priority. They're not here to sell meal kits or hawk their modeling career. They're here, quite frankly, to fuck around, and I can't stop watching.
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