By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Feb 13, 2017 at 10:06 PM

Nick Viall may have sent a few surprising contestants home on tonight's episode of "The Bachelor," but the TV show's biggest, and arguably best, news came off-screen. 

According to several reports, current "Bachelor" contestant and Marquette University law school grad Rachel Lindsay will be announced as the star of the upcoming season of "The Bachelorette." It's not just good news because the 31-year-old Texas-based attorney is one of the more favorable and liked women currently vying for the Waukesha native's heart; her selection actually makes "Bachelor" history, as she will be the first black bachelor or bachelorette to take the lead on ABC's popular dating show in the franchise's 15-year history. 

The announcement is expected sometime on Monday night's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

For fans who closely follow the show, the expected reveal shouldn't come as a complete surprise (even a newbie like me predicted this coming last week). Early last year, the show's producers noted that the next contestant on "The Bachelorette" likely wouldn't be white, and over the past several days, the show's creator Mike Fleiss repeatedly teased on Twitter that a "history-making, historic announcement" was coming tonight. 

There's just one odd bit to this overall great news: Rachel is still on "The Bachelor," making this major announcement a pretty significant spoiler for the current season. In fact, those watching Monday's episode while also keeping an eye on the reports coming out on Twitter were left mighty confused when Nick wound up keeping Rachel as one of the final four contestants remaining. 

I suppose we'll find out how Rachel and Nick go their separate ways sometime in the next few episodes – and find out how Rachel does as queen of her own dating show when "The Bachelorette" premieres sometime later this year. 

UPDATE: Television's worst kept secret was made official tonight, as Rachel Lindsay was officially unveiled and introduced as the next Bachelorette on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" with the help of "Bachelor" host Chris Harrison.

Before the announcement, Nick himself tweeted his congratulations to Rachel.

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.