National Post (National Edition)
The Bachelor makes history
Usually when a season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette begins, viewers are already acquainted with the lead. Maybe they were a finalist on a previous season or they appeared several years ago.
This time, however, Bachelor Matt James is new to everyone. He was set to appear on Clare Crawley's season, but as we'll explain below, he was plucked to be a star before ever serving as a supporting character.
Here's everything you need to know about James and his première as the show's first Black lead.
WHO IS MATT JAMES?
According to his official bio from The Bachelor's broadcaster ABC, he's a real estate broker living in New York City.
He was 28 when his season was filmed and is currently 29. And as the show's contestants and host Chris Harrison continually remark, he's very hot and VERY TALL. He studied economics at Wake Forest University, where he also played wide receiver on the football team. Matt is biracial; he was raised by a single mother, who's white and split from his father, who's Black, when he was young.
WHY IS THIS SEASON HISTORIC?
The Bachelor franchise, which started in 2002, has been criticized for its lack of diversity — in 2012, two Black men who auditioned filed a racial discrimination class-action lawsuit. Then in May, as the country faced a reckoning over racial injustice and police brutality, ABC announced James as the show's new lead.
WHERE ARE THEY FILMING?
Watching the two-hour episode without a mask in sight might fool you into thinking The Bachelor was filmed on some planet far away from the COVID-19 pandemic, but for James's season, the cast and crew are at Nemacolin, a resort in Farmington, Pa.
(They quarantined and were tested ahead of time.). Fans of The Bachelor franchise might remember it from JoJo Fletcher's 2016 season of The Bachelorette.
WHO GOT THE FIRST-IMPRESSION ROSE?
James isn't the only cast member making history this season. Abigail Heringer, a 25-year-old client financial manager from Beaverton, Ore., is the show's first deaf contestant.
After she told him about the challenges she has been through, James “recognizes that she's a fighter” and gave her the first-impression rose.