The Bachelor is hoping to rev your enthusiasm engines a little early this season.
Bachelor Nation was a bit shocked when it was announced that Arie Luyendyk Jr., the runner-up from Emily Maynard's season of The Bachelorette (which aired in 2012), would be the franchise's next leading man. Since being dumped by the single mom in season eight, Arie has not appeared on any of the franchise's spinoffs and has yet to use his name as a promo code in a sponsored ad on Instagram, so he's basically The Bachelor's version of a unicorn.
But ABC knows some fans might not remember Arie, 36, which is the whole point of their latest promo, which E! News is exclusively debuting above.
"It feels like it's been forever," Arie says in a clip from Emily's season in the video, with the voice-over cheekily responding, "It kind of has!"
The voice-over goes on to say, "We're remembering why we fell in love with him, from the first one-on-one to the blindsiding break-up," as ABC is making season eight of The Bachelorette available to stream on ABC.com and on their app ahead of The Bachelor's January 2018 premiere. Plan to start binge-watching that season later today (Monday, Oct. 16)! It's Bachelor Monday once again, y'all.
In the promo, we also get to see Arie in action in his first promo shoot as The Bachelor, handling roses with ease and showing off a few dance moves.
After Arie was announced as The Bachelor, the race car driver/real estate agent admitted on Good Morning America that he was just as shocked as some of the fans to land the coveted title.
"I was a little skeptical because we'd been in talks for a few years about doing it, so I kind of just went in with an open mind and an open heart," he said, adding, "The timing of this really fit for me."
Arie's season of The Bachelor will premiere January 2018 on ABC. And you can watch his season of The Bachelorette on ABC.com and the ABC app.