ABC The Bachelorette debuts May 18, 2009

ABC apparently can’t wait to wash away the bad taste of the ending of Jason Mesnick’s The Bachelor season. The network has announced that former The Bachelor bachelorette Jill Harris will serve as the star of a still-unfilmed new The Bachelorette edition that will premiere on May 18.

The network made the announcement at the conclusion of Tuesday night’s broadcast of The Bachelor: After the Final Rose Part 2 special that served as the final wrap-up to Mesnick’s The Bachelor season, which ended with Mesnick picking Melissa Rycroft in the show’s Final Rose Ceremony but then dumping her in favor of Molly Malaney — the woman he originally dumped in favor of Rycroft — on-air during the taping of season’s initial After The Final Rose special six weeks later.

“It was really a pretty easy decision for us to make,” The Bachelor and The Bachelorette host Chris Harrison gushed about the decision to make Harris the star of The Bachelorette’s fifth season.  “There was one girl on [The Bachelor] this season that really captured America’s heart and the groundswell of support for her to be the next Bachelorette was overwhelming.  Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome our new Bachelorette… Jillian!”

Harris — a 29-year-old interior designer from Peace River, Alberta, Canada — made it to Mesnick’s penultimate Rose Ceremony before he cut her in favor of Final 2 bachelorettes Rycroft and Malaney.

After her elimination aired, Harris had told reporters that she would “have to think hard” about whether she’d be interested in serving as the star of a future The Bachelorette edition.

Read the Rest of the article at Reality TV World

Color me officially excited!  So glad that it’s getting started so soon!  Who else is excited?  Do you like the season flipping so soon?  And when are they going to start taping to have this done in time?  Got to be soon right?  Let me know your thoughts below!