I May Need To Stop Watching the Bachelor Franchise

by screen time honey

The Bachelor franchise is problematic, and the most recent season of the Bachelorette was a hot ass mess.

To be fair, every season of the Bachelor franchise is a hot ass mess, but in this season, all the messy and problematic reasons came to a head. In past seasons (read: almost every season), we have seen instances of misogyny, racism, consent, and manipulation. But unsavory issues riddled this season, and it made me rethink my commitment to the franchise. 

Reason #1: Two Leads

Firstly, we had two female leads. Both had their hearts broken on the previous season of the bachelor. This would be another season of women competing and comparing themselves to each other. Did these women not face enough torment on the Bachelor? This past season could have been great if the lead had solely been Gabby Windey, the hot, hilarious ICU nurse from Denver. But the franchise was itching to fuck it up with something controversial, so the producers elected to make Rachel Recchia a co-lead. 

Rachel was not the standout Gabby was. This put Rachel in the awkward situation of seeming second best when in any other season, she would have seemed like the fine, cookie-cutter Bachelorette. The show had to split time between the two women, and audiences had to watch Rachel call every relationship “really special” and something she could see in the future, while all we wanted was to spend time with Gabby and watch her try on berets and mock herself for looking like a very obvious dildo. 

Reason #2: Jesse Palmer

When Chris Harrison took a very golden parachute from the show for pugnaciously defending a racist contestant to the show’s first black lead, the time was ripe for picking a great new host. Our wishes were answered when the franchise made Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayisha Adams (the second black Bachelorette) the hosts. However, we soon learned the two women would be temporary hosts and would be permanently replaced by, wait for it, another middle-aged white man and former Bachelor, Jesse Palmer. 

Jesse Palmer seems like a problematic uncle who peaked in high school but thinks he’s still got it and likes to “play devil’s advocate” when people are discussing the need for CRT in American schools. Palmer constantly tries to act bashful as he jokes about his time as the Bachelor without betraying any sense of embarrassment.

While some could use their past Bachelor experience to offer sage advice, Palmer consistently uses it to speak about himself without actually listening or helping the contestants in need, such as two female leads trying to navigate a toxic situation.  

Reason #3: Men Tell All

The Men Tell All / Women Tell All (for seasons of the bachelor) is usually one of the better episodes of the season in which they bring back eliminated contestants to have it out on camera. The former contestants mostly yell at each other for being inauthentic or having been there for the “wrong reasons,” and the season’s villains seek redemption to get in the public’s good books, i.e., increase Instagram following.

This year’s Men Tell All was one long infomercial. “Tonight will change you forever,” Jesse Palmer solemnly promised. The surprise that would change us forever was giving out cruise tickets to the audience. I am still waiting for this cruise to change my life forever…

Towards the end of the program, they did a promo for the film Bros, in which the actually funny and successful comedian and star of Bros, Billy Eichner, had to watch clips from this season and scrape the bottom of the barrel to find humor and charm in them.

On top of the shameless advertising, the content was a pageant for male mediocrity and banal apologies. Men who didn’t act that atrociously and just said some stupid shit got the floor for way too long. Contestant Jacob apologized far too deeply for clumsily saying he wanted to date Gabby instead of Rachel. “I’ve really been working on myself and reflecting on how I treat those around me. I was wrong blah blah blah.” Comments that took much-needed airtime away from actually problematic behavior displayed by other contestants.

Take Nate, the single dad who was framed as an empathetic feminist among the rest of the trash men. He was exposed for seeing multiple women directly before the show (not in an open relationship capacity). He dated one woman for a year and a half and kept his daughter a secret. Not only is this sketch AF, but it also sounds exceedingly difficult. 

Obviously, on the show, being a loving dad was his shtick. On the Men Tell All, Nate was confronted. In regards to the multiple women, Nate said it was in his past, and people change. But on a show where you date someone for a few weeks and then propose to them, one of the only ways to accurately judge someone is their past actions, especially those directly preceding the show.

In response to the woman he hid his daughter from, Nate got teary-eyed and said it was after a hard break-up, and he wanted to protect his daughter. I understand not introducing your daughter to people, but actually hiding the fact you have one is some next-level shit. Again, for a year and a half. After Nate’s neat and way too put-on responses, Jesse Palmer thanked him profusely for his time without asking all the questions I was shouting at the screen. I have never seen the Bachelor host thank anyone so vehemently as the men at this Tell All session. It was very odd and unwarranted, and hope it won’t be customary. These blood-sucking leeches love the attention.  

Reason #4: After the Final Rose

After the Final Rose (AFR), the live special after the finale, was full of actual drama and not just cruise ship vouchers for the audience, which was refreshing.

The guy Rachel chose, Tino, ended up cheating on her before the finale. Though this dude exhibited so many warning signs the entire season, even I was surprised he proposed to Rachel and cheated on her so quickly. He didn’t even take the time to cash in on Bachelor fame. 

It was amazing to watch the produced confrontation the couple had before AFR. Tino is so disheveled it looks like he spent a night at Euphoria High. He clutches his journal as some sort of proof of what happened (cough, Brett Kavanaugh, cough). Tino switches between blaming Rachel and pleading with her to take him back. Emotions run high, and Tino storms out, taking off his shirt and revealing all the wires mic-ing him up. When we go back to the live audience, Rachel and Tino are brought together again, and it is the same delightful mess. 

While this was super fun to watch, it’s frustrating because Tino had so many red flags the whole season. He was always wiping away mountains of sweat during every conversation giving me the sense he was perpetually lying. In confessionals, he cockily noted he was doing so well in the competition and had it in the bag. I am so sick of watching Bachelorettes go through these journeys completely in the dark about what fools these losers are. 

Worse than cheating, it came out that Gabby’s final guy, Erich, did blackface in high school. Some middle-Americans argued it was a long time ago, and he was young.

Mmmmm, okay.

1. I would never have done that, even as a dumb teenager. I don’t think I knew the history of blackface at that point, but I definitely knew it was wrong.
2. If I ever put on anything close to blackface as a teenager/child, my parents would have immediately scrubbed that shit off my face.
3. If I somehow made it out of the house in blackface, my high school would have sent me home, and my peers would have been appalled.

Where the fuck did Erich grow up that it was accepted on all these various levels?? The evidence of his blackface was posted and fully endorsed in his school yearbook. Erich made some lame Instagram apology, and I strongly believe his family should have also addressed the serious fuck up. 

Disturbingly they did not address it at all in AFR. This special is 3 WHOLE HOURS. 

When Erich and Gabby were on stage together, they discussed texts that were made public of Erich breaking up with a woman he was seeing before going on the show and him saying it was a career move. That’s pretty bad, but not addressing the blackface? When given the floor, Gabby and Erich didn’t even address it.

At the close of the episode, Jesse Palmer apologizes for all the mistakes of that season. “We learned a lot of valuable lessons, and we hear you, and we love you.” Is this because people spoke to production after the fact? On various bachelor podcasts following the special, hosts voiced their disappointment with the show not addressing the issue. However, I could also see this comment just being about the problematic shit that happened during the season while being blind to the tragic blunder they just made.

The only saving grace on the AFR was Gabby stating, “I hate Men.” Hear hear! At least this show teaches you the harsh reality that men generally suck.

Reason #5: The Next Bachelor

The final nail in my Bachelor coffin is the next bachelor they chose. Zach, ie captain cornflakes.

To illustrate his nauseating cringiness, when Rachel was having a stressful night, he took her outside and said, “Let’s just scream and let it out,” as if it was the most original thing, not something we have seen in every Hallmark movie when someone uptight needs to let loose.

Setting aside his brilliant, life-changing, and cathartic screaming techniques, Zach seems like the kind of guy you would go on a date with, and he would constantly laugh and assert how funny you were and continually state how much fun you are both having. Blurgh. Watching him find love sounds about as fresh and enjoyable as Gilmore Girls season 7. 

My Conclusion

This season sucked and highlighted continuous problems with the series. In some seasons, it seems they are taking strides to fix things, and this one just proved that they don’t care at all. It’s also boring. I’ll probably continue to watch Bachelor In Paradise, though, as the contestants can be their true freaky selves (red flags are readily apparent) and spend more than 2 hours with each other before getting engaged.