First black Bachelorette ready to find true love
After 33 editions of the The Bachelor and The Bachelorette on ABC — and intense criticism about its lack of diversity — producers have cast the first black star of the popular franchise.
The network announced that Rachel Lindsay, a 31-year-old lawyer from Dallas, will be the next Bachelorette when the reality dating series starts a new season in May. She appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to confirm the news, mere hours after she was shown in the latest episode of The Bachelor.
As Kimmel pointed out, Lindsay’s announcement is quite a spoiler for the current season, which stars 36-year-old Nick Viall as the bachelor and wrapped filming several months ago. “I think it’s safe to say your hometown date with Nick did not go as planned,” Kimmel deadpanned.
Lindsay was mum on the details, though apparently her season of The Bachelorette starts filming in a couple of weeks so she couldn’t keep the secret much longer. “I’m ready to find love, find a husband,” she said, adding she’s looking for “someone who’s ready for what I’m ready for ... someone who’s ready to start a family.”
Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss had teased the news, tweeting that there would soon be a “historic announcement.”
By Monday, many fans guessed what it would be. While casting a black star of a prime-time network TV show shouldn’t be considered “historic” in 2017, the franchise has been in an unflattering spotlight for many years — and faced a lawsuit — for its glaring lack of diversity.
“I would very much like to see some changes there,” ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey told TV critics last summer.
On Monday’s episode, the topic of race came up, a subject not frequently discussed on the show. While Viall was talking with Lindsay about potentially meeting her family during a hometown date, he tentatively asked, “Will I be similar to guys you dated before? Will I be different?”
Lindsay read between the lines. “No, I’ve never brought home a white guy,” she said. “I’ve dated white guys, I’ve never brought home a white guy.”
“Is that something you think your parents are gonna, like, bring up?” Viall asked. “No,” Rachel replied immediately. “If you saw my entire family, like, it’s everybody ... it’s not all black. I just want you to be yourself.”
Clearly, something goes awry in the upcoming episodes. In a news release announcing Lindsay’s new role in The Bachelorette, ABC spilled that “in the end, she finally (finds) the courage to confess her deepest feelings to Nick, only to be left broken-hearted.”
Tuesday morning, Lindsay told People magazine she doesn’t expect this upcoming Bachelorette season to be any different.
“I’m obviously nervous and excited to take on this opportunity but I don’t feel added pressure being the first black Bachelorette, because to me I’m just a black woman trying to find love,” she said. “Yes, I’m doing on this huge stage, but again my journey of love isn’t any different just because my skin colour is.”