Last month, fans of The Bachelor franchise were embroiled in some rare network crossover drama when series creator Mike Fleiss tweeted that Khloé Kardashian was in talks to become the next Bachelorette.
That, of course, didn’t exactly end up happening. Kardashian (with some help from Kim Kardashian West and Kris Jenner) immediately slammed the rumors on Twitter, writing, “I’m not fucking clickbait right now. Stop or you will be hearing from my lawyers. How insensitive!!” and Hannah Brown (known as Hannah B. on the show) was eventually announced as the next Bachelorette.
But was Kardashian ever really in talks to be the Bachelorette? According to ABC reality executive Rob Mills, who recently spoke with Variety about the controversy, no — although Fleiss and Jenner usually have a good working relationship.
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“Mike Fleiss and Kris Jenner do know each other well. They judged Miss America together, so they’ve spent some time together, and Kris is a friend to the show,” he told Variety. “It was very premature. And to be honest, Khloé’s not wrong. She’s going through something and she was right to be a little miffed because this is an incredibly sensitive time for her. I don’t think there was any [real] conversation because it’s not the right time to have that conversation.”
Mills also confirmed that Fleiss backed off after Kardashian threatened to sic her lawyers on him, so legal action did not occur (to the best of his knowledge). That said, Miller isn’t counting “Khloé for Bachelorette” outside the realm of possibility quite yet.
“You never say never,” Mills told Variety. “Look, what you want is a storyline that people are invested in. With Jason Mesnick, this was a good guy, a single dad that people wanted to see happy. Ben Higgins was a guy that he felt unlovable. [With Khloé], this is a woman who just had a baby and was cheated on — that is a powerful story that I think everyone could get behind, even if you know nothing about the Kardashians.”
Considering how Kardashian reacted to the first suggestion of a Bachelorette stint, we’re not holding our breath. But, hey — if a lot can change in a month, a whole lot can change in a year.