PASADENA, Calif. – The Bachelor runner-up Trista Rehn will get a second chance to find true love on television -- and this time she gets to do the picking.
One of the women rejected by bachelor Alex Michel on ABC's reality dating show last spring, Rehn will choose from among 25 men on The Bachelorette, the network said Wednesday.
The six-episode series is scheduled to air in January 2003. New editions of The Bachelor will return next season as well, ABC executives told the Television Critics Association.
ABC Entertainment President Susan Lyne was asked if a sexual double-standard might cause some to view The Bachelorette contestant as promiscuous.
"The show will force all of us to look at what these double standards are," Lyne replied, adding: "I think that Trista is aware of that possibility" but looks forward to the same opportunity Michel had.
Rehn, a 29-year-old physical therapist, lost Michel to Amanda Marsh, a 23-year-old event planner.
"Now that I'm on the 'other side of the rose, so to speak,' I hope to find an ambitious and confident man who has a great sense of humor and is a strong conversationalist," Rehn said.
Rehn said previously that she was initially upset when Michel bypassed her but that she ended up "very happy with the outcome."
The Bachelor did not end with a marriage proposal. Michel, a 31-year-old management consultant, asked Marsh to move to California to continue dating. The pair are still seeing each other, ABC said.
The show's April finale drew an audience of about 18 million people, second in its time slot to CBS' hit drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
The Bachelor was a bright spot for ABC, which lost nearly a quarter of its audience last season and trailed NBC, CBS and Fox among advertiser-favored viewers aged 18 to 49.
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