Iowan Chris Soules has competition for 'Bachelor' spot

Iowa's favorite farmer, Chris Soules, may have some competition in his quest to become the next "Bachelor."

According to gossip site radaronline.com, ABC is considering both Soules and Arie Luyendyk Jr. for the next season, which will likely begin airing in early 2015. Both radaronline.com and Reality Steve (a blogger who correctly spoils most seasons of the show before it even airs), reported this week that ABC has filmed Luyendyk in his Arizona home and hired him a trainer, and that Soules has been flown to Los Angeles to meet with show producers as recently as this week. Both sites claim producers have yet to decide.

Soules was eliminated from the show on the July 14 episode. Fans on social media immediately started calling for the Arlington native to be the next Bachelor. The finale airs Monday at 7 p.m. on ABC.

Luyendyk, a race car driver, was featured on the 2012 "Bachelorette" season with Emily Maynard. He made it to the season finale, when Maynard chose Jef Holm. Maynard has since married Tyler Johnson, who was not on the show.

These are just the (alleged) facts. Let's talk about how you feel about this.

As a person who might have followed this show a little too closely over the years, I know things: Arie has a huge following -- more than 141,000 followers on Twitter. He's good-looking. He's dated other women from the "Bachelor" franchise, including Courtney Robertson, who won Ben Flajnik's season and later wrote a tell-all book about her experience after she and Flajnik broke up.

As Iowans, we'd probably like our "Bachelor" to be a bit more wholesome. Someone who is, say, a farmer from a small town and whose mother seems really cool and whose family likes to play Ghosts in the Graveyard. Just some ideas.

If I were you and wanted Soules to be the next Bachelor, I would get active on Twitter. Follow me first, obviously (@sarahdosehoward) and then start tweeting with the hashtag #ChrisForBachelor. Show producer Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) has Tweeted a couple times recently how he and others are still deciding. So Tweet at him as well and help him make up his mind.