The Bachelor star Matt James is getting closer to finding love as his journey continues.
So far, Matt has expressed interest in a couple of women, including Michelle Young who just joined the show last week as producers decided to shake things up.
But there is one woman who clearly stole the show during the first episode.
Abigail Heringer spoke out about being hearing impaired on The Bachelor. She has congenital hearing loss and received a cochlear implant at two years old.
Fans loved hearing her story and loved how ABC encouraged diversity on the show, including those who needed representation.
As it turns out, Matt is smitten with her as well.
Matt James is smitten with Abigail Heringer
During tonight’s episode, Matt will finally get time with Abigail again after dealing with some drama in the house.
ET Online reports that Abigail is scared about opening up to him, especially because she hasn’t really fallen for anyone so quickly before.
“I haven’t felt like this for somebody in such a short amount of time, so I really want to open up to him, but it’s scary to open the door to being vulnerable and possibly rejected,” Abigail reveals on tonight’s episode.
Abigail wants Matt to understand that starting something with her could result in future developments that she wants him to know about. For example, if there were to have kids together, there would be a big chance of them also being deaf.
“I think there’s just something about you, I’m super excited. I literally get the biggest smile on my face when I’m around you,” she begins. “But I’m also going to be as open with you, obviously, through this process. You want a wife and you want a family, and you know I want those things too. But if I were to have a family, there’s a really strong possibility that my kids would be deaf.”
That’s something that she wants Matt to understand. She also tells him that her father walked out on her when she was two years old, so she’s scared of opening up again because she’s worried Matt will do the same thing.
But the conversation doesn’t scare Matt.
“Abigail, I don’t even know where to start. There’s not a bad thing to say about her,” he says during tonight’s episode after speaking with her. “She’s just incredible.”
Matt James has clear front-runners on The Bachelor
It’s clear that Matt has some strong frontrunners this season. Even though Ben Higgins shared recently that he struggled to get invested this season because of Matt’s supposed connections – or lack thereof – with the women, there are clearly some women Matt is into.
Abigail is one of them. Michelle and Rachael are also at the top. His date with Serena was cute, but the two are a little awkward around one another.
ABC decided to add more women to Matt’s season because he had a record number of applications to join his season.
Abigail was celebrated by Bachelor Nation for speaking out about her hearing disability as fans thanked her for speaking out and giving impaired people a platform on The Bachelor.
But Abigail is not the first one. Sarah Herron, who appeared on both The Bachelor and Bachelor In Paradise was born without an arm. She has amniotic band syndrome.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.