As The Bachelor Finally Ends, Here’s Every Theory That’s Consumed Fans This Season

This season of The Bachelor has been a lot to take in, and it’s not over yet. It’s been teased over and over and over again that Peter Weber will receive shocking news ahead of the final rose ceremony that could change everything. We also know that Peter's mom cries for him to “bring her home!” but we don’t know who “her” is. It’s also been said that Peter doesn’t even know how his Bachelor season will end, which means that it can’t actually be spoiled — at least not to the extent that past seasons have — no matter how hard spoiler guru Reality Steve tries. 

But that hasn’t stopped anyone from trying. Throughout this season a number of theories have arisen when it comes to who Peter will choose or not choose, or even who he’s gotten pregnant. Yep, that rumor’s been going around, too. 

Ahead of the Bachelor finale airing on March 9 and 10, when all of us (including Peter, apparently) will find out how things shake out, take a look at all the theories about what happens. There could be spoilers ahead, but, as Peter told Access Hollywood in early February, “People are really good at speculating. I will say I haven’t heard the actual ending yet from anyone.”

In February, it was rumored that Peter does not end up with a contestant at all, but with one of his producers, Julie LaPlaca. This one popped up on Reddit and is based primarily on the fact that Peter and Julie have spent time together since filming the show, including with his family on New Year’s Eve, as shown on his dad’s Instagram. The producer in question is seated next to Peter:

As reported by Entertainment Tonight, Peter, Chris Harrison, and ABC executive Rob Mills have all been asked about the theory and none of them confirmed or denied it, but rather laughed it off or called it “crazy.” And it probably is. These producers sometimes become friends with contestants, and that’s probably all it is with Peter and Julie, too. 

There has also been speculation on Reddit that one or more contestants are pregnant with Peter’s baby. Peter addressed this in an interview with Access Hollywood and just laughed about it. “I’ve heard that,” the 28-year-old said of the rumor. “I’ve heard two people might be pregnant. It’s like, whoa, one’s not enough.” As for who, specifically, would be pregnant, there are rumors about it being Kelley Flanagan, who left the show in the episode prior to hometowns, but who had met Peter before the start of filming. Kelley was not at the Women Tell All episode, which could be because she’s pregnant. But, um, yeah, probably not. 

Speaking of Kelley, yep, there’s a theory that Peter ends up with her even though she seemed pretty fed up with him when she left the show. While this would be a shocking turn of events, this theory actually does have some juicy evidence. First, she wasn’t at The Women Tell All, even though she was in Los Angeles. See:

Could it be because she’s in love with Peter and possibly carrying his child?! (She reportedly told fans on Instagram that she wasn’t invited.) Second, as noted by Reality Steve (and the many DMs he received from fans) as of March 4, Peter’s mom, dad, and brother all followed Kelley on Instagram, but none of the other contestants. As of now, none of them follow Kelley, but she follows all of them. Did they unfollow her when the rumors came out? Is something being covered up? We shall see. As for Reality Steve’s take: “Peter is not with Kelley. Period. End of story.” 

This has been talked about ever since Hannah Brown first appeared on The Bachelor at the beginning of the season, and is based primarily on the huge amount of chemistry that Peter and Hannah have. In fact, Bachelor all-star Ashley Iaconetti wrote for Cosmopolitan that she believed Peter’s season would end with him deciding to go date Hannah in the real world, so that neither of them would have to wonder “what if.” Hannah has not been mentioned on the show for a long time now and Peter has said he’s in love with Hannah Ann and Madison, so this would be a really big twist. 

She’s baaaaack. Cosmopolitan reported on a very light "theory" from Reddit that posits Peter is with Victoria Fuller because on The Women Tell All he spoke about their relationship in the present tense. I’m going to go with he’s done a lot of interviews in which he has to speak as if the show is still ongoing, and it didn’t mean anything. 

This one isn’t as far-fetched as the others, simply because Hannah Ann actually is a finalist on the show. Still, there are a couple of pieces of outside world evidence for this one. Women’s Health did a deep dive into Venmo and found that Peter and Hannah Ann’s accounts are private, while many of the other contestants, including Madison, have public accounts. This could mean they have something to hide… or that these two just like to keep their transactions private. Women’s Health points to another piece of evidence about Hannah Ann, too. Apparently, she and Peter are either sharing a golf bag or just each have similar red and black golf bags. Yeah, that’s pretty inconclusive. 

On top of that, it’s been theorized that Hannah Ann self-eliminates, because she feels like Peter has been putting Madison ahead of her, but that Peter goes after Hannah Ann and is still with her to this day. 

Look, you can make your own decisions about which of these rumors seems most likely, but I’m calling this one. The original story came from Reality Steve as of March 5: Madison leaves the show before the final rose ceremony and goes back to the U.S. Peter is in love with both Madison and Hannah Ann and doesn’t want to make a decision before he can talk to Madison again. So, with Hannah Ann not technically eliminated, everyone goes back to the States, and Peter ends up reconciling with Madison. He breaks things off with Hannah Ann, and is currently dating, but not engaged to Madison, leaving the possibility that he’ll propose on After the Final Rose. 

This conclusion is somewhat supported by the new Peter's Blue Shirt theory, which comes from fans who clocked that Peter wears the same blue shirt during the scenes in which he introduces Madison to his family and the ones in which his mother is seen crying "Bring her home to us."

However.

Since this "spoiler" dropped, Reality Steve tweeted, “Since my post this morning, I’ve been on my phone non stop. Plenty of things being said. The whole thing is a mess. Being told so many different things now. Original sources sticking by what they said. New sources saying that’s not it. It’s madness!” He added in a second tweet, “One thing that I can absolutely confirm again is that this ending does not involve anyone other than Madison and Hannah Ann.”

He has since updated it to...

On March 9, Carbone posted a new column in which he states, as definitively as possible, that Madison leaves, Peter proposes to Hannah Ann, and then he pulls an Arie Luyendyk — meaning he breaks up with Hannah Ann to pursue Madison. That would also explain why Madison was spotted filming something in her hometown back in February and why we see Peter telling a brunette woman he's so sorry (potentially Hannah Ann) in the promos for this week's double episode.

As for who Peter is with right this minute, Bachelor executive producer Mike Fleiss says neither he or Chris Harrison know how the season ends. It could be misdirection, or it could just be truly that messy.

As you can see, it makes the most sense to believe that the finale will have something to do with Hannah Ann and Madison. Whether you want to believe Reality Steve’s report, Venmo evidence, or what you can read into from the trailers, one thing’s for sure: Hannah Ann and Madison are the final two and this show has made big drama out of something not that far-fetched many, many times before. Now we’ll just have to see if Peter will “bring her home!”