The Bachelor spotlight: Annaliese Puccini’s acting history; odds with Arie

We like to think that one of the appealing things about Annaliese Puccini on The Bachelor to producers was rather simple: She has the same first name as Viola Davis’ character from How to Get Away with Murder. Also, like Viola Davis, she’s an actress! (Okay, Viola has a significantly larger resume and many awards, but we’re not going to come at this Annaliese for following her dream.)

Out of the contestants that we’ve spotlighted for The Bachelor so far this season Puccini is the only one with an IMDb page, and she’s got some acting gigs plus a short she seemingly also wrote and directed.

Interestingly, her ABC bio lists her as an event designed from San Mateo, California. What’s going on there? We don’t deny that she probably is an event designer but producers like to steer clear of “actress” because they think it means “there for the wrong reasons.” Yet, for some reason they label other people who have fame-focused careers like nobody’s business. Why is being in acting wrong at this point? We’re not speaking specifically towards Annaliese, but every person who wants to be on the show probably wants something out of it other than love.

As for what else stands out about Annaliese, she’s one of the few contestants on this season over 30 and we immediately want to root for her because of this. (Unfortunately, that probably just means that she’ll get a couple of notable segments, be eliminated, and then get an invite for Bachelor in Paradise after the fact.) She also claims that she would like to be Miley Cyrus or Tracee Ellis Ross (ABC synergy!) if she could be someone else for a day — this is random, but not as random as the fact that she likes Futurama. (Cheers for that!)

What are her chances with Arie Luyendyk Jr.? – We actually think that she’s probably one of the better matches for him in that she’s reasonably age-appropriate, she already knows a little bit about the entertainment business, and hey, she’s been to Burning Man judging from her Instagram. She’s probably got some great stories from that. She’d be a good person to have around on the show for a while since she can probably narrate confessionals well and be someone to keep the peace in the house — she’ll probably make it a few episodes and that’s it.

Also, click here to see some other Bachelor spotlights and like CarterMatt on Facebook to score some additional news and updates right now when it comes to the show. (Photo: ABC.)