The Perfect Bachelor Audition Didn’t Exist — Until Andrew’s Bachelorette Letter

Major spoilers are ahead. Well, Bachelorette fans, we might have just lost a fan favorite — but we might have gained a perfect Bachelor. On the July 19 episode of The Bachelorette, Katie Thurston sent fans spiraling when she eliminated 26-year-old defensive back Andrew Spencer right before hometowns. The decision clearly wasn’t an easy one: Katie and Andrew both teared up as they parted ways, and Katie repeated, multiple times, that Andrew deserves the world. Jury’s still out, but this might have been even more heartbreaking than last week’s tearful breakup between Connor Brennan and the men of the house. 

But there’s a bright side: Andrew might be back very, very soon. After all, Katie practically wrote him a letter of reference for the Bachelor role. “You are such an amazing man, and you give a hundred percent to everything you’re passionate about, and that’s what you deserve. And that’s not something I could give you,” she said. “You deserve to find a great love.” 

Bachelor Nation agrees. The “Justice for Andrew S.” Twitter campaign has already begun.

Like all the worst Bachelor goodbyes, Andrew’s exit hurt because he really did have an evident, growing connection with Katie. In one of their earliest conversations, they bonded over growing up without money; later, during their one-on-one, they had an important, frank discussion about what it would mean to be an interracial marriage and raise kids together. And tonight’s episode only showed their bond growing stronger: Andrew recreated the romantic setting of their first date and told Katie he was falling for her. He really seemed like a shoo-in for hometowns.

So, is it possible we’ll see Andrew again? Historically, our Bachelors and Bachelorettes have been plucked out of the past season’s top three: The franchise likes us to really know our leads before watching them spend a whole season searching for love. But lately, the franchise has been bucking that trend. Katie came in eleventh place on her season of The Bachelor, and Hannah Brown placed seventh on Colton Underwood’s. (Matt James, our most recent Bachelor, didn’t make it onto The Bachelorette at all.) Andrew might not have cracked Katie’s top four, but we still know him well — which also speaks volumes about how well we could get to know him if he got even more screen time.

And Andrew did get a lot of screen time after his tearful breakup. After his elimination, he got to have a moment of closure with Katie, and even wrote her a sweet note, prompting her to chase him down the hallway. "Whenever, if ever... you have me," he told her. At the last second, Katie offered to try to keep him around, but he made the difficult decision to hold out for someone who chooses him. Wonder where we've heard that before?

"I wanted to say yes. I'd love nothing more than to be with her," Andrew said. "I said no. But I want my future wife to choose me, and I wasn't chosen. So I had to say no."

There are other Bachelor contenders, of course. Katie’s top four — Greg, Blake, Justin, and Michael — could all hold their own, and some people are still rooting for Connor B. to get another shot, if Paradise doesn’t work out. But, to paraphrase Katie, Andrew is the rare contestant who can make us laugh and, well, feel everything. And to paraphrase the man himself, he deserves to find someone who chooses him.