"The Bachelor" Shocker: Who is the Older Lady?

"The Bachelor" has delivered another shocker weeks before the show even debuts. When Ben Flajnik takes his turn as "The Bachelor" this season, he'll also have the opportunity to woo an older lady-or so it seems.

By older, I don't mean a cougar in her 40's or early 50's. The older lady on "The Bachelor" appears to be at least in the neighborhood of 60. The official "The Bachelor" website on ABC, which can be found here, lists the older lady as "Sheryl" and lists her age as "age is just a number." The page already has well over 1,500 "likes" on Facebook and could pick up a viral following following the recent previews of the premiere. Sheryl is going to be hopping out of the limo on opening night. Whether she is a genuine candidate for the heart of Ben Flajnik remains to be seen.

So what are the possible scenarios in which Sheryl gets an opportunity to bid for the heart of such a young man? Or is Sheryl somehow related or acting as a spy on the behalf of Ben? There seems to be some kind of catch whatever the case. "The Bachelor" is throwing out shockers well before the start of the actual show. One can only wonder what the other young ladies in the limo are thinking as they ride with Sheryl-who is most likely old enough to be the mother of any of the girls or Ben for that matter. Maybe she is a god mother? Maybe Sheryl is just a "toss in" for the elderly who are looking for love. Maybe Sheryl is a future spinoff for a reality television show involving seniors. Perhaps Sheryl is truly looking for the love of an incredibly younger man.

It looks as if producers are once again up to something. These "The Bachelor" shockers always seem to give the show a boost. Is the show that boring this time around that it needed to be spiced up? Obviously the producers of the show didn't just toss Sheryl in at the last minute. This was definitely planned and strategically announced well in advance of the show premiere. As a fan of the show, it does intrigue me how Sheryl will factor into this season. Part of me wonders if she is just there to uncover truths about the potential future wives for Ben. The other part wonders why "The Bachelor" would toss in somebody so irrelevant to the whole "finding true love" scenario when producers and the host of the show continually shove that theme down our throats.

This might just be a wait and see for all viewers as the show kicks off. Would it be surprising that a 60 something Bachelorette would genuinely be on the show for Ben? Absolutely. It just doesn't fit and I think what we find out on the opening night will definitely resemble that theory.

The premiere of the show is set to air on January 2, 2012 on ABC. Who is the older lady? Only time will tell but expect a twist to develop well before the end of the first two episodes. Will the twist be a shocker or a huge let down? One thing about "The Bachelor"-the producers of the show always figure out how to turn mediocre events into controversy. Maybe the drama will start and end with Sheryl this time around.