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The 25th season of the hit reality show “The Bachelor” was shaping up to be historic with 29-year-old Matt James named the franchise’s first black bachelor. But the season ended with a controversy, caused by its “winner”, the choices of host and production which triggered the anger of viewers.
But many black women who watch the show, like Mikayla Bartholomew, say they could see these problems coming from a mile away.
Bartholomew, 26, watched the series intermittently with his growing mother. Now she and Victoria Price, both actresses, are hosting a podcast, “The Blckchellorettes,” which they launched in January, a few weeks after James’ season started. Their show served as a vehicle to fight Blackness, activism, and frankness in a season that was meant to spur change.
“For some reason, ‘The Bachelor’ and its whiteness seems to be a pretty good mirror of how we engage with each other in society and how white people in power, or those with access to platforms and privileges, engage with disenfranchised people, ”Bartholomew says.
Rachael Kirkconnell received the final rose from James, but before the finale aired, 2018 photos of Kirkconnell, who is white, surfaced on social media featuring her, then a student at Georgia College and the State University, dressed for a war-themed ball. TikTok users also compiled evidence that she mimicked Native Americans in costume and liked social media posts supporting former President Donald Trump.
Then, discussing the photos with former “Bachelorette” Rachel Lindsay during an interview on “Extra,” longtime “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison played down the controversy. Harrison’s statement that “there is a big difference” between 2018 and 2021 has sparked its own controversy. Emmanuel Acho, former NFL player and host of the “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” series, replaced Harrison for the “After the Final Rose” special.
While Kirkconnell was the last woman standing, the outcry surrounding her racist behavior and the franchise’s poor response ultimately led to a breakup with James.
Kirkconnell apologized on social media in February, saying that at the time she did not realize the racial implications of her actions, but that she should not be apologized for it. “Racial progress and unity is impossible without (white) accountability, and I deserve to be held accountable for my actions,” she wrote. “I will never grow up if I don’t recognize that what I did was wrong. I don’t think a single excuse means that I deserve your forgiveness, but rather I hope that I can earn your forgiveness through my future actions.
Through it all, Bartholomew and Price followed, documenting the on-screen and off-screen antics. Price, 28, started watching the series with “The Bachelorette” starring Emily Maynard in 2012. She started the app for James’ season, but she didn’t complete the video portion. She said she felt the timing was not right, with the pandemic – and the odds would not be in her favor.
“I’m a dark-skinned black girl with a ‘fro,’ Price said. “I’ve never seen this on the show, and I put it in my little app. We have seen a lot of fair-skinned women, mixed race women, and ambiguous racist women. I am clearly a black woman with dark skin. I have never seen myself represented on this show.
In a June open letter, former casting producer Jazzy Collins said that after Lindsay’s season of “The Bachelorette,” the cast returned to the “status quo”: picking predominantly white contestants or black women. who were “ethnically ambiguous”, wore weaves, had chemically straightened hair and were not “too dark”.
The last three contestants of this “Bachelor” season were Bri Springs, whose mother is of Persian descent and whose father is black; Michelle Young, whose mother is white and whose father is black; and Kirkconnell.
In the season premiere, James, whose mother is white and father is Nigerian, and who identifies as Black, talked with Harrison about the insurmountable pressure to be “the first”. James said, “You have people who encourage you to find love. You have people who encourage you to meet a specific person, a specific person of a specific race. “
Price said that when she saw James’ speech, she interpreted his admission that he would not meet those outward expectations. As the cast was billed as the most racially diverse franchise, James’ prospect should have been taken more seriously to prevent “all these black women coming into the show expecting” him. Be different because the franchise describes you as different. “
Questions arose from black viewers surrounding the appetizing blackness that appeases a white audience and whether James was not hinting so subtly that he would give the final rose to a white woman. Although he said he found such “frustrating” assumptions on a “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, Kirkconnell ultimately won the rose.
To Bartholomew – who studied gender, sexuality, and women’s studies at Virginia Commonwealth University – James, choosing Kirkconnell, illustrated how black women “fall to the bottom of the social hierarchy. We’ve just found out that we aren’t the desired ones, so engaging in relationships is often about finding someone you are compatible with. Whereas, for black men, there is an assimilation to the power that they seek.
This social order dates back centuries, explains sociologist Cheryl Judice of Northwestern University, who studies race relations and marriages.
“It goes back to when black women were brought to this country,” Judice said. “It was the white woman who was the personification of all that is desirable and feminine, and it was the black woman who will never be his equals.
The data shows that James is not an anomaly. According to the Pew Research Center, among black newlyweds, 24% of black men have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, compared to 12% of black women.
For Season 25 contestant Chelsea Vaughn, although she says she is “personally more attracted to black men,” she doesn’t exclude anyone – and is very much aware of colourism.
“It ripples through all aspects of life,” said Vaughn, 28. “Colorism certainly has a role to play in some of the insecurities I have around dating.”
Vaughn posted several comedic TikToks about her “Bachelor” experience, recalling how she wanted a one-on-one date with James but was often assigned on group dates. She said she didn’t feel like James looked down on her, nor did she interpret her conversation with Harrison as excluding black women.
However, she certainly noticed, week after week, that a black woman who did not have fair skin was coming home. Bachelor Data, a fan account that tracks statistics related to shows, found that women of color did not have airtime proportional to the number of them in the cast. Vaughn said the data matches his own experience with the show.
“I certainly didn’t think the airtime was fair and even,” Vaughn said. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily just because of race or because of the drama’s plots, because most of the drama happened to be about white women. I’m probably the black woman with the most airtime, not a mixed woman. “
Judice, the sociologist, said that the media “have for a very long time felt comfortable only with representations of blacks who fit into certain categories.”
The producers of “The Bachelor” did not respond to requests for comment.
Vaughn said she didn’t feel like she was classified in a specific type of role, per se. Podcast hosts Bartholomew and Price said that when black women were portrayed on the show, it was often a “vehicle for white stories” or a comedic trope.
“I knew I wasn’t watching ‘The Bachelor’ or the first Black season ‘Bachelor’ for a black love story,” Bartholomew said.
A dark love story “is something that we don’t see often on the show and in this franchise,” Price said.
The Instagram page “The Blckchellorettes” went viral after Bartholomew posted a video in response to the meeting between Harrison and Lindsay. They received backlash from white “Bachelor” fans ignoring these issues or threatening her with insults.
“The people on our colourism posts have acted like we are inventing colourism,” Price said, “but people don’t understand that this is a real, deep struggle.”
While Price wants to stay hopeful, she and Bartholomew know that it will take more than performative diversity to truly bring about historic change. For them, that means hiring more than one producer of color; have a consultant in equity, justice and representation; face the anti-blackness head-on; and much more.
Vaughn is not only hoping for concrete change, but also that black female viewers don’t give up on the show.
“I really hope there is room for a black romance,” Vaughn said. “If there were any black women who hadn’t watched the show before, I hope they don’t take this as an indication that this show just isn’t for them or that it has been. tainted for them from this season. And I hope the franchise does the job it needs to move forward and be better.
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