By this point, lots of us have heard the rumors about who is the next Bachelorette from the cast of women featured on Matt James’ season of The Bachelor. In fact, it’s now been almost two weeks since ABC show creator Mike Fleiss started teasing the news and reality TV blogger Reality Steve dropped the supposed spoiler on Twitter. But fans who’ve been part of Bachelor Nation for a few years now know that no decision is ever official until it’s announced (after all, remember that Caila Quinn-JoJo Fletcher switcheroo we got after Ben Higgins’ season?), which means that, technically, everyone is still in the running. So when Matt sent home a record seven women during the Monday, February 15, episode, I kept a close eye on their exit interviews.

It’s a well-documented pattern that the lead of the next season usually comes from the final four of the previous season. It’s also known that a deftly-handled exit interview can serve as a sort of Bachelorette audition, no matter when you leave the process. Such was the case with Hannah Brown, who finished sixth on Colton Underwood’s season, but scored the fan fave vote when she was sent home during a one-on-one date. She was heartbroken — and she took a moment to shade Colton as well as the remaining women — but she was also steadfast about what she wanted and what she deserved.