‘The Bachelor’ spotlight: Will Laura Esselman sell herself as Ben Higgins contender?

This season of “The Bachelor” is ripe with big personalities, but it’s not exactly ripe with many redhead contenders for Ben Higgins’ heart. Ultimately, the show hasn’t been that kind to redheads in general over the years; many of them leave on the first night, and they usually get lost in the sea of brunettes or blondes. We’re not sure if there is any specific reasoning for this, other than that maybe some of the guys cast as the lead on some of these shows just have a particular type they are looking at.

In this edition of our show spotlight series, we’re going to do our best to try and figure out whether or not Laura Esselman has what it takes to break the trend and become a major contender late in the game.

Age – 24

Occupation – Account executive. Specifically, she works in an ad agency, which makes us want to compare her to Peggy Olson from “Mad Men.” Probably not a one-for-one comparison.

Hometown – Louisville, Kentucky. Finally, a Kentucky contestant on the cast! There’s usually one or two from this neck of the woods a season.

Things to know – She loves both sports and female-drive comedies seemingly, given that two of her favorite movies are “Remember the Titans” and “Bridesmaids.” Also, she is allergic to rice, which makes her the second contestant this season with some sort of food allergy. Read about the other one here.

Strengths – Based on what we’ve seen from her on social media, she’s extremely outgoing and seems to be ready for whatever comes her way. She’s also one of the contestants this season who seems to definitely be here either for love, the experience, or somewhere in the middle. It doesn’t seem like fame is a priority, and she may have a different worldview coming from Kentucky than many other people.

Problem areas – While it seems as though she’s outgoing and friendly with other women, we could see her getting friend-zoned pretty easily in this competition. We’re not sure that we are going to see her be as aggressive as some of the guys, and she could get lost in the shuffle during the early going.

Prediction – Unfortunately, we don’t get the sense that Laura is going to be too long for the show. We’d love to be wrong since having a sea of blondes and brunettes will make it harder to remember everyone, but we just don’t see the spark forming long-term. We do think, however, that she’d be fairly popular with some of the other women in the house.

Want some other “Bachelor” spotlight articles right now? Then be sure to head over to the link here! Also, you can sign up over here to get some further TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)