After the accusations of racism against Rachael Kirkconnell and the mistakes made by longtime host Chris Harrison in an attempt to defend her, it looks like The Bachelor has changed forever. Over the years, the fans had been denouncing certain problematic practices, choices, and storylines that took place within the Bachelor Nation franchise. But despite the many warnings that things would surely get out of hand someday, the show mostly kept to itself and didn't take full accountability for certain issues that came up.
In 25 seasons of The Bachelor and 16 seasons of The Bachelorette, there have been a total of three Black leads: Rachel Lindsay, Tayshia Adams, and Matt James. These shows have also struggled with giving more airtime to other non-white contestants, such as Asian and Latino people. Alas, Matt James' season of The Bachelor seemed like the clearest effort from the franchise to show that it is trying to do better when it comes to diversity and representation. Despite any original intentions, the season has now been completely overshadowed by Rachael Kirkconnell's many controversies and Chris Harrison's decision to step aside as a host.
As Rachel Linsday said, this is an important time for The Bachelor to slow down and take a deep look inside its production practices. For one, the vetting of potential contestants by casting directors must be way more rigorous than it is now. If a group of Reddit users can uncover different things about a person, then a team with even more resources should have no trouble. Secondly, the series needs to be more proactive with its language and messaging on social media, such as regularly speaking up when a Black contestant is targeted by fans with racist messages and death threats.
Another important thing is for the show's diversity efforts to be reflected in each Bachelor episode instead of trying to make a blanket statement by casting a non-white lead for the series. A great example took place on The Bachelorette season 16, which cast Tayshia Adams as a lead but failed to give any airtime to one of Bachelor Nation's absolute favorite contestants, Joe Park. In other words, the series must have a 360-degree approach that includes showcasing people of different races and backgrounds, not just casting them to stand in the background.
There are a lot of changes ahead for The Bachelor. However, given all of the resources that the show has, one can hope that they will be able to evolve from what it used to be.
The Bachelor season 25 airs Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.
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