Ashley Iaconetti thinks fellow Bachelor Nation alum Trista Sutter’s involvement in season 3 of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test is a given.
“I know what happened. I think people know. I think it’s Special Forces,” Iaconetti, 36, said during the Wednesday, May 29, episode of her and Ben Higgins’ “Almost Famous” podcast while discussing Sutter’s recent mysterious trip. “Did the show get annoyed by this? Like, she basically revealed herself as a cast member.”
Us Weekly reached out to Fox for comment. The network has not yet announced any casting details for season 3 of Special Forces.
Iaconetti first speculated about Trista, 51, filming for Special Forces after the OG Bachelorette’s husband, Ryan Sutter, shared a post about her missing Mother’s Day.
“I just wanna ask, like, where’s Trista? Because Ryan’s post on Mother’s Day was cryptic. Not in a bad way,” Iaconetti said on “Almost Famous” earlier this month. “She’s away for two weeks. … So, is she shooting a show? Is she on Special Forces? Because I told her she’d be perfect for Special Forces.”
The “cryptic” post in question came on May 12, when Ryan, 49, who married Trista in 2003 after meeting her on the inaugural season of The Bachelorette, posted about his wife being away from their two children: son Maxwell, 16, and daughter Blakesley, 15.
“I know you wish you were here for Mother’s Day. We wish you were too. But sometimes being a mom means letting go of their hands, granting independence and stimulating their courageous spirit,” Ryan wrote. “Sometimes it’s necessary to exemplify the characteristics you preach — to do rather than say.”
Days later, Ryan posted about wishing he could talk to Trista “just for a minute,” reflecting on all the “times I’ve called [her] without much to say, not realizing how lucky I was or how much I’d miss the opportunity if it were gone.”
Trista returned to Instagram on Saturday, May 25, to poke fun at the conspiracy theories about her absence sparked by Ryan’s mysterious posting.
“Geez people. Can’t a girl have a nervous breakdown/trial separation/midlife crisis/death/divorce in peace around here?! 😜🤣,” she wrote. “In all seriousness, for those concerned, I’m safe and sound, happy and healthy, in love and grateful. 🥰.”
While Trista did not specify what she was doing while away — she mentioned only “an opportunity for perspective and personal growth” — Iaconetti pointed out on Wednesday that the duration of Trista’s trip would make sense for a stint on Special Forces.
“We know that if it was Special Forces, that it only films for about 10 days. Of course, with travel and preproduction and stuff, it probably comes to about 14, 15 days,” she said.
Iaconetti and Higgins, 35, have also guessed that former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky is part of the Special Forces season 3 cast. Like Trista, Fedotowsky, 39, has recently opened up about time away from her husband, Kevin Manno, and their two kids: daughter Molly, 7, and son Riley, 6.
“Won’t have my phone for a while [and] this will by far be the longest I’ve ever gone without speaking to my family,” she wrote via Instagram on May 15.
Higgins pointed out that Fedotowsky’s break from social media took place “about the same time Trista’s did,” and argued that the two women have said similar things on social media about their mystery trips.
“If it was Special Forces, and we are allegedly saying that is the best [guess] to where we think they went, it’s interesting they’re both … talking about their kind of mental health and bettering themselves,” he said on Wednesday. “I wonder if Special Forces is kind of marketed to contestants as this place to believe in yourself again and to do something powerful and to show your strength. I wouldn’t be surprised, because I do think the show does that.”
While it’s still unclear whether Trista or Fedotowsky will appear on season 3 of Special Forces, one thing is certain: everyone is charmed by Ryan’s public displays of love.
“How bad do you think Ali feels that her husband didn’t go on [a] diatribe on social media about missing her?” Ashley joked.
