What is up with the lack of diversity on The Bachelor?

As an avid Bachelor/ Bachelorette fan, I have been watching the show for several years. And as many people can obviously tell, there is a lack of diversity within the show. In the history of the show, there has only been one bachelor from a minority background, Juan Pablo, who is Latino, and the only “winner” of the show who was not caucasian was Catherine Giudici from Sean Lowe’s season.

Juan Pablo

Throughout the past years, the Bachelor producers have said that they have been trying to include more people from minority backgrounds, but this season there were only five contestants out of the 25 pining for JoJo’s love who were actually minorities. She even eliminated two of these men on the first night. However, JoJo eliminated Grant as well, who was the only remaining contestant of color two weeks ago.

The men from this season

So what’s the big deal? How is a show like The Bachelor able to get away with never having an African-American or Hispanic bachelor or bachelorette? According to the show, there has been a lack of interest from people of color. While this may be true, there have been racial discrimination lawsuits against the show in previous years.

During last season of The Bachelor with Ben Higgins, there was speculation that Caila Quinn, who is half filipino, would be the next bachelorette. But, at the last minute, the show chose Joelle Fletcher (JoJo) – a white woman – instead.

Caila

The viewing audience of the reality program consists mainly of women ages 18-49, but if you watch Live: After the Final Rose, the majority of people in the audience are white women. In today’s America, minorities are being represented more and more throughout the media to directly represent the changes in society, and even though the audience of the show may have been directed more towards a certain race and age group, the producers of the Bachelor need to work harder to represent the ever-changing American landscape.

JoJo, this season’s bachelorette