After 30 seasons, the only non-white suitor The Bachelor or Bachelorette has ever had is American-born Venezuelan Juan Pablo Galavis. It’s about time ABC does something about the show’s lack of diversity, but it still doesn’t sound like they plan on making any drastic changes anytime soon.
“I would very much like to see some changes there,” ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said regarding diversity on The Bachelor during the network’s Television Critics Association presentation on Thursday.
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“I think one of the biggest changes that we need to do, is we need to increase the pool of diverse candidates in the beginning. Part of what ends up happening as we go along is that there just aren’t as many candidates to ultimately end up in the role of the next Bachelor or Bachelorette, so that is something we really want to put some effort and energy towards,” Dungey explained.
While we’re glad Dungey is committed to increasing the pool of diverse candidates, it sounds like ABC is more concerned about ratings than making any changes right away. When asked if ABC could just pick a diverse candidate to be the suitor, Dungey replied, “We could.”
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However, it sounds like they aren’t going to. Dungey went on to say, “The show has been very much in a cycle where the first runner-up in one cycle becomes the person who leads the next cycle.”
“It’s worked very well for us because the audience feels really engaged in helping to choose that candidate,” Dungey explained. “So I think what we would like to try to do is just widen the pool choices.”
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While we’re happy to hear the next season of The Bachelor may have more than two or three non-white candidates vying for The Bachelor’s heart, we’re still frustrated that ABC isn’t taking greater steps to have a non-white Bachelor or Bachelorette in the coming seasons when they admittedly could.
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