Fans of “The Bachelor” have long theorized on early signs of a winner — earning the first impression rose, for example, has long been thought to be a signal that contestant will make it far into the season.
FiveThirtyEight compiled data based on the first 15 years of the show, including 21 seasons of “The Bachelor” and 12 seasons of “The Bachelorette” — which adds up to 856 contestants and 280 weeks of competing for love. The stipulations on the study are that all contestants are assumed to be there for the right reasons — that is, that they’re all there to find true love.