Culture Pick | Season 25 of “The Bachelor” did not receive the final rose. Here’s why

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“This season, I was so excited to see Matt James and all he could bring to the franchise by being the first Black Bachelor,” said Leanna Salmanson, a junior majoring in public relations. “I was extremely underwhelmed with how the season was produced.”

From one contestant, Anna Redman, accusing another, Brittany Galvin, of being a female escort, as well as the producers including footage of an especially personal conversation between James and his estranged father that took a lot out of context according to James himself, it’s clear that producers shifted their focus to the most uncomfortable and petty moments instead of what could have been a chance to break barriers between contestants in a way that’s never been seen.

The Bullying

“I think that the underlying issue is the fact that ‘The Bachelor’ franchise encourages bad behavior and drama,” said Emily Davignon, a senior majoring in management and information sciences. “This season went beyond girls being catty. They invited straight-up toxicity into the house, glorified slander, slut-shaming and straight-up harassment between the girls.”

Madeleine Petti, a senior majoring in psychology, shared the same sentiment. She was appalled that the producers just sat back and let the vitriol happen.

“The bullying was god-awful and reminded me of how my cheer teammates treated me in high school,” Petti said. “MJ [Snyder] said that she and the OG girls were on some ‘Varsity Squad’ while the newer girls to be brought in were only ‘JV.’ It was just really childish.”

Petti said she was annoyed by the open animosity toward two contestants who decided to call out several girls in the villa for calling other contestants “slores.”

“Katie [Thurston] and Jesenia [Cruz] did the right thing by calling out the other girls on their egregious behavior, and then the other girls would gang up on them,” Petti said.

The Tokenizing

Not only were viewers rubbed the wrong way by the openly hostile environment of the villa, but the lack of racial diversity spoke volumes for some.

“The lack of diversity is atrocious. It’s inexcusable. Interracial relationships aren’t the stuff of myth and legend – they are very real,” Petti said. “It was dumb of the producers to only cast white people in the past and only pair them with white people. It proves they only care about views and money rather than actually setting up the contestants with future partners.”

Of the combined 41 seasons of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” there have only been four leads of color: Matt James, Juan Pablo Galavis, Rachel Lindsay and Tayshia Adams. 

In the history of both “The Bachelorette” and “The Bachelor,” 59% of Black contestants on both shows were eliminated from the show within the first two weeks of filming.

Petti said the show’s tactic of casting a handful of people of color on the show, only to send them all home after the first night is very tokenist and insincere on the show’s part.

“The names of the contestants [to be saved from elimination] are written in the rose petals [during rose ceremonies] so I mean the producers control everything,” Petti said. “In previous seasons they would cast a few POC and then send them home on the first night.”

Rachael Kirkconnell

Ironically, despite a season of cherry-picking and hyper-editing the most dramatic storylines, the show has hesitated to address the biggest controversy of the season and the winner of the final rose: Rachael Kirkconnell. 

Kirkconnell, a 24-year-old graduate of Georgia College State and University, is facing criticism for participating in an antebellum-themed party while a member of Greek life in college, as well as perpetuating QAnon conspiracies and other misinformation on her social media accounts. 

This scandal truly came to a head when Chris Harrison, longtime “The Bachelor” host, defended Kirkonnell’s behavior in an interview with Rachel Lindsay, the first Black Bachelorette. 

“I think that Chris Harrison kind of thought he was untouchable. He didn’t think about it when he made the statement he had to apologize for,” Davignon said. “I don’t know if Rachael is sorry for what she said or sorry she got caught.” 

Petti was less than impressed at Harrison’s response. 

“Chris Harrison needs to stop being a racism apologist. Rachael knows what she did wrong and owned it, but Chris said that holding her accountable is ‘ruining her life,’” Petti said. “In reality, [Kirkconnell] is learning that her choices have consequences, and that is an invaluable lesson to learn in life.”

Since Harrison’s comments, the franchise announced that he will take a leave of absence. 

The “After the Rose Special” was hosted by announcer Emmanuel Acho, and the next season of “The Bachelorette” will be hosted by Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe, both of whom were past Bachelorettes. 

“[Harrison] should not be hosting the show since he clearly just wanted to save face, and I’m really glad that Tayshia and Kaitlyn will be hosting the show for the time being,” Petti said.

While this decision may reflect a change in conscience among the showrunners, whether or not this forward progress remains relies on the viewers as well. 

The Attacks

Petti said the producers as well as the audience are to blame for enabling the consistent bad behavior, both on the show and within the fanbase.

“We vote with our views, and we were tuning into a show where some half-baked white boy was allowed to tell [former Bachelorette] Rachel Lindsay that ‘once you go Black, you never go back,’” Petti said. “The producers saw fit to air that and keep him on the season.”

According to YouGov.com, 77% of ‘The Bachelor’ viewers going into season 25 were women, and three-quarters of the overall viewership were Caucasian. 

During season 13 of ‘The Bachelorette’, the first time in which a Black woman, Rachel Lindsay, was the Bachelorette, viewership among African-American viewers increased by 72%, while white viewership dropped by 19%.

In the “Women Tell All” episode of “The Bachelor” season 24, Lindsay made her way back into the limelight, along with several other contestants of color from the current season. In the episode, they went into detail describing the hateful, racist messages they frequently received from viewers. Following Lindsay’s interview with Harrison, she received so many racist attacks from the fanbase that she had to temporarily disable her Instagram account.

“I’ve dealt with it my whole life, but when you’re put to that magnitude, it hits you just a little bit different,” said former contestant Sydney Hightower to Variety at last year’s taping of the special. “It’s one of those things where you just have to be strong in it, but it’s not okay.”

Shiann Lewis, another woman of color on the show that year, said she received a lot of direct messages and comments on her social media following Season 24’s wrap.

“[I’ve seen] a lot of things about my hair, a lot of things about my skin tone, that I’m ugly—just anything,” Lewis said.

Even Vietnamese contestant Tammy Ly added in the interview that many people online have told her to “go back to Korea and die” and “to go get coronavirus” following her departure from the show.

The Double Standards

That was last year. But not much has changed. 

Following the season 25 finale, the “After the Final Rose” showcased the pain and hurt that Kirkconnell’s racist past truly caused James. 

While James could hardly address his now ex-girlfriend, host Emmanuel Acho pushed him to explain why he felt Kirkconnell could not change and be in a relationship with him at the same time. 

“I knew that I had to take a step back for you to put in that work and that’s something you gotta do on your own, and that’s why we can’t be in a relationship,” James said to Kirkconnell.

While James did not express anger or real criticism toward Kirkconnell, his decision to end their relationship sparked negative reactions on social media the following day.

Meanwhile, Kirkconnell’s reflective Instagram post was met with heart emojis and words of encouragement, reassuring her of their faith in her good nature. Many viewers took to James’ Instagram page to shame him for not sticking by Kirkconnell. 

“For someone who claims to be a Christian, you know nothing of forgiveness,” one fan wrote. 

Another fan added, “You literally bullied her tonight. You people do this to yourselves.”

Both of these comments received over 300 likes respectively. James ended up deleting all the posts on his account, presumably to avoid any further hate comments.

In spite of the intricacies of the conversation between Acho, James and Kirkconnell, many fans seem more than prepared to defend the traditional format of the show at all costs. It seems like a loud majority of the “Bachelor Nation” are simply refusing to acknowledge the deep-rooted, emotional pain and historical implications of Kirkconnell’s actions.

Turning a Corner?

In response to all the tribulations of the finale, “The Bachelor” franchise producers proposed a peace offering in the final minutes of the “After the Final Rose” special, two new Bachelorettes, Michelle Young and Katie Thurston. 

The two women next in line for the Bachelorette throne were contestants who battled alongside Kirkconnell for James’ heart this year, and this choice has proven to be very popular with fans.

Whether or not new hosts and these two contestants, notable for their popularity among fans and Young’s position as the third Black bachelorette, will cause any real change is hard to predict. The key to greater diversity in casting and in storylines likely depends on a shift in mindset among viewers, which, based on the reaction to James’ season, seems headed in a less-than positive direction.

While the ever-changing social climate has already caused massive changes in the way other producers go about casting and shaping the narratives of their shows, it is clear that “The Bachelor” will have to follow suit if it would like to survive.

“I find it hard to believe that the producers of ‘The Bachelor’ consistently put problematic people on the show on accident,” Davignon said. 

Petti said the contestants on the show should feel free to have important conversations about their values, and that the show shouldn’t cut those scenes out in favor of bullying scenes.

“They need to cast people based on who the current Bachelor or Bachelorette are actually into, not who will just cause the most drama or whose face will bring in the most views,” Petti said, noting a lot of former Bachelors and Bachelorettes like Colton Underwood and Matt James have set up charities. “I think giving them some time [on the show] to shed light on important topics will help them find a love that matches their values as well as make the show more well-rounded instead of being just shallow and annoying.”

While this train-wreck of a season winds down, it’s up to speculation whether “The Bachelor” will step up to make genuine, real changes with how they run things on the show.