Franchise The Good The Bad The Ugly By: Janelle Suriaga Editor-In-Chief Chris Harrison, the stately host of The Bachelor franchise, is known for saying his infamous phrase, “This is the most dramatic season yet,!” for almost every season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. And yet, I would agree with Harrison’s statement for season 16 of The Bachelorette and season 25 of The Bachelor.
outside their race. It’s a conversation starter for a lot of people. And hopefully again it paves the way for a lot of diverse love stories, because those are beautiful stories.”
Let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly that The Bachelor franchise had to offer.
I am going to be completely honest. I am not surprised about the breakup of season 16 Bachelorette Claire Crawley and her choice, Dale Moss. Previous seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelor in Paradise (its famous spin-off show) have shown Crawley as an genuine, yet over-emotional, woman who chooses men that are just not good for her. This idea was reinforced by her abruptly ending her Bachelorette season after only three episodes to pursue an engagement with Moss. Many viewers (myself included) were extremely hesitant about this couple, as the pair only had two weeks to explore the relationship before their engagement.
These past two seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have been historic in many ways. First, Tayshia Adams, a former contestant on season 23 of The Bachelor, was brought in after Clare Crawley decided to cut her season short to chase after Dale Moss, the season’s frontrunner. Former Bachelor contestant Tayshia Adams was brought in to fill out the remaining part of the season. Adams is the franchise’s first biracial lead and the second black female lead after Rachel Lindsay, the first Black Bachelorette, according to ABC. Adams is half-Mexican and half-black, so conversations around current race relations in America and interracial relationships occured on her season. Conversations around Black Lives Matter and racial prejudice in prisons are rare in the franchise. ABC was able to foster these discussions because Adams and her contestants came from diverse backgrounds.
The Ugly: Bullying on Matt James’s Season
Despite Matt James’s history-making run on The Bachelor, his season will notably be remembered for the amount of bullying that occurred between the contestants. When producers decided to introduce four new contestants during the fourth week of filming, this upset the current contestants on his season and the bullying truly began. One particular instance is when contestant Anna Redma spread rumors about one of the newer contestants, Brittany The following season of The Bachelor turned out to be even more Galvin. Redman accused Galvin of being an escort despite having historic, as Matt James became the first Black male lead of The no concrete evidence and no relation to Galvin by any means. Bachelor. With 2020 centered around denouncing racial prejudice, There are countless other instances of bullying on the show, most there was an increased call for leads of color in the franchise. James of which were instigated by Redman, along with fellow contestants recognized that while this decision took a long time, he felt that it Victoria Larson and MJ Snyder. The toxic atmosphere created by was better late than never. According to Us Weekly, James says, “I the contestants makes the show unbearable to watch at times and don’t think it’s ever the wrong time to do the right thing. I think a lot puts a damper to an otherwise historic season of The Bachelor. of people are in that situation where they’re uncomfortable dating
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February 26, 2021
Photos courtesy of Disney+
Photos courtesy of abc7ny.com, abc7chicago.com and ewnews.com
The Good: Casting People of Color as Leads
The Bad: Clare Crawley and Dale Moss’s Breakup
