The Bachelorette and The Bachelor are some of the biggest shows in reality TV. Both series have gone for more than a decade and they show no signs of slowing down in terms of popularity. In recent years, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have come under fire for their casting practices. It’s no secret, even to someone with only a passing knowledge of the franchise, that the respective casts aren’t very diverse. According to Variety, ABC President Paul Lee promises that will change in this summer’s iteration of The Bachelorette.
The lack of diversity in The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have become a bit of a black eye for the franchise in terms of public opinion. There has only been one non-white lead in either series, Juan Pablo Galavis. On the current season of The Bachelor there are only three women that can be classified as minorities in the cast. The status of minority cast members on romance reality shows was even a running story line on UnReal, the not so subtle parody of The Bachelor franchise that premiered in the summer of 2015.
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Paul Lee and ABC are apparently aware of the problem and are taking measures to correct it. Lee said in a recent interview that he would be “very surprised” if the next The Bachelorette didn’t have more diversity. Lee promised many tweaks to the franchise that would allow the show(s) to get them where the producing team wants them to go.
Lee isn’t promising a non-white Bachelorette and he’s leaving a lot of wiggle room. He only talked in hypotheticals and likelihoods. He made sure not to confirm anything. In that way, it’s possible the status will be very much quo by the time The Bachelorette rolls around this summer. The cast could be very much white and Paul Lee won’t have technically lied.
But what do you think? Is Paul Lee being genuine that there is (a much welcome) change coming to The Bachelor and The Bachelorette? Or is this a stall tactic meant to appease critics with empty promises?
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
