Ben Higgins Named As Next ‘The Bachelor’ Star

Ben Higgins, the second-runner up on last season of The Bachelorette, will be the next The Bachelor star.

Ben Higgins Is The Bachelor

After Monday night’s episode of Bachelor in Paradise, host Chris Harrison revealed that Higgins had been selected for the upcoming new season of The Bachelor. Higgins proved to be the most popular with Bachelor Nation and producers, who had also considered runner-up Nick Viall, Ben Zorn and Jared Haibon.

“It’s incredible,” Higgins told Harrison Monday of being selected. “People like me don’t get opportunities like this, and I never would have thought that this opportunity would be something I could have and I’m excited. Everything leading up to this has just been incredible.”

Higgins, a 26-year-old software salesman, says that he’s ready to settle down and get married despite his relatively young age.

“I’m ready to share my life with somebody,” Higgins told People following the official announcement. “And I’m not fearful of the idea of getting married. As soon as I can find that person, it seems like the better life will be.”

Higgins is looking for a woman who will be both a “partner and best friend,” pointing out that he probably won’t be interested in the woman who makes the most enemies in the house. “Somebody who doesn’t get along with people in the house is not the best girl to get in a relationship with,” he pointed out.

What celebrity fits his idea of a good match? “I’ve always been attracted to Blake Lively,” Higgins admitted. “She is the all around good girl.”

At the end of the day, Higgins hopes that he’ll be down on one knee, getting engaged like his now-friends Brisotwe and Shawn Booth. “Ideally at the end of this, I will be proposing,” he said. “That would be a really cool thing.”

The Bachelor‘s 20th season will premiere on ABC sometime in January 2016.