Whye already has a guaranteed shot at the belt. He only needs Hearn to get it done. I am pretty certain that Hearn will push for Wilder-Whyte and then Wilder-Joshua.
The #1 contender hasn't done enough for a titleshot according to this dude. He doesn't have to do more because he's the frickin' #1 contender! And he actually did a whole of a lot more as Wilder's previous #1 contender. The reason they don't want Whyte to get this titleshot is because he creates an anomaly. Hearn wants Wilder to fight Whyte and in the UK, and Wilder has already made clear that he doesn't want that at all. Wilder probably would have to comply with this as it's unlikely the PBC would win a pursebid, so he loses control and Hearn would call the shots.
I don't think it's unusual for them to make the 1 and 2 fight in a final eliminator. Or it hasn't been for other orgs, certainly. I think Browne was like 13 or something in the current rankings