Chris Soules, the Iowan farmer who vied for Andi Dorfman’s heart on the last season of The Bachelorette, will be the new Bachelor.

Chris Soules Is The Bachelor

“It's still very surreal," Soules, 32, told People about becoming the Bachelor. "It's going to be very difficult, but I just want to be very open-minded and have fun and get to know these women."

Soules emerged as a frontrunner to become the next star of The Bachelor after becoming a viewer favorite in the late stages of The Bachelorette’s tenth season. Though he seemed like the most probable choice ever since his elimination, Harrison didn’t announce Soules as the next Bachelor on the After the Final Rose special, when the next Bachelor is traditionally announced.

“There are endless discussions and heated debates on which direction to go and what to do,” Harrison explained at the time. “We are very close to making that decision, but the only big mistake we could really make is to rush this and try to get it done in time for last night’s show.”

In addition to Soules, runner-up Nick Viall, Marquel Martin (who would have the show’s first black Bachelor) and Arie Luyendyk, who competed on season eight of The Bachelorette for Emily Maynard’s heart were in the running. Luyendyk, seemingly piqued about not getting picked, broke the news about Soules before the official announcement on Good Morning America.

I'm not the Bachelor, have fun on the farm people ✌️

— Arie Luyendyk Jr. (@ariejr) August 26, 2014

Among those pulling for Soules, was Patrick Jagodzinski, who, like him, was one of Dorfman’s suitors on The Bachelorette. “I think Chris is going to be the perfect fit,” Jagodzinski, who’d spoken to Soules after filming wrapped on The Bachelorette, told uInterview exclusively. “He’s such a standup guy. I think he should do it.”