The Bachelor And Diversity, Or The Lack Thereof
A look into The Bachelor and Bachelorette on how they fail to positively represent people of different backgrounds and identities
Written by Emma Goshin, Contributing Writer
ABC’s Bachelor and The Bachelorette have drawn in an audience of reality TV lovers that are always watching for the drama, feuds and twists of every season. The seemingly endless stream of content has created a cult following of a mere-competition show in which contestants compete to win the heart of one man or woman.
Each season, a cast of about 30 contestants becomes the focal point of our Monday nights. Yet, within these pools of contestants and leads The Bachelor franchise is seriously lacking diversity. Each show has cast only a few non-white people every season.
For starters, why did it take 13 seasons for the franchise to choose a Black lead? Rachel Lindsay finally took the role of the first Black bachelorette in the history of the show in 2017 (ABC). Since then the show has made few strides in vastly improving diversity.
For example, the experience of Mike Johnson. A fan favorite on Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette, Johnson was what people thought was a top pick for the following season of The Bachelor. While many people thought that there would finally be a Black bachelor, viewers saw that once again, a white man was chosen to play the lead in the show. Peter Weber, or Pilot Pete, was rather selected by producers and staff and then took the role.
Almost a year later, Mike Johnson reflected on the frustrations he had experienced with the series: “It’s supposed to be about love, and love comes in all forms and colors—not just white America. If the show wants to continue to be absolutely amazing, I would want it to not only be the poster child for the show with The Bachelor or Bachelorette who is diverse but also people from the top down, so the contestants feel like they can relate to someone on the show …. It needs to be a melting pot on diversity and culture differences because it’s not just about color” (Cosmopolitan, 2020). These words of frustration represent just one of many voices who are trying to push ABC to cast a more diverse group of people.
Most recently the show’s host, Chris Harrison has come under fire for defending racist posts and behaviors from a contestant on the current season of The Bachelor with Matt James. Although Harrison made it clear that he wouldn’t have acted the way the contestant did, he argued the racist behaviors of attending an Antebellum party were seemingly okay back in 2018. The uproar from these comments has ultimately resulted in Harrison stepping down from his position and leaving The Bachelor franchise for the time being (CNN, 2021).
The issue here is not just with race and racism. The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have continuously failed to cast people of different sizes, religions and sexualities. And as seen from Chris Harrison’s recent actions they had little value and motivation in trying to do so. What we have seen in the last few decades is an outrageous failure of the franchise to listen to its viewers. There has to be a true and lasting change that demonstrates an understanding that diversity really is essential, and hopefully the stepping down of Chris Harrison starts it.
Works Cited
Bonner, Mehera. “Mike Johnson Addresses ‘Atrocious’ Lack of Diversity on ‘The Bachelor’.” Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan, 11 Aug. 2020, www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a33572711/mike-johnson-atrocious-lack-of-diversity-bachelor/.
Garvy, Marrianne. “Chris Harrison Steps Aside from ‘The Bachelor’ after controversial interview.” CNN. CNN, 14, February 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/entertainment/chris-harrison-the-bachelor-interview-trnd/index.html
“’The Bachelorette’: Meet the 31 Men Competing for Rachel Lindsay .” ABC News, ABC News Network, 2017, abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/photos/bachelorette-meet-31-men-competing-rachel-lindsay-47468459/image-47483780.