Episode 7: This Is Not A Recap
This season is exhausting.
And harmful.
By allowing – and keeping – contestants with histories of racist acts, and contestants who seem to target women of color for picking fights and insults, the show seems to be saying that racism is fine if it’s good for ratings, because it “only” hurts Black women and women of color.
This is dangerous. Why can’t this show just let Black and BIPOC women pursue love and joy and happiness, without also having to face racism? Why doesn’t the bubble of safety extend to them? This doesn’t happen to white women on the show.
This was the season that was supposed to take The Bachelor/ette franchise in a different direction. Matt James was announced as the next Bachelor – and the show’s first Black male lead – at the height of the marches for racial justice last summer. I don’t have exact data to say whether this is true or not, but this season’s cast of women looks more diverse than anything we’ve seen so far, in terms of The Bachelor at least. Rachel Lindsay, the series’ first Black female lead, very publicly criticized the show for its lack of diversity and treatment of Black and non-white contestants, and at the time, it looked like her efforts would have an impact.
And yet. Here we are.
A would-be villain with a likely-racist voting record. An apparent front-runner with a history of liking – and doing – racist things. And, most egregiously, host Chris Harrison, a white man, asking/accusing Rachel Lindsay, a Black woman, “Who the hell are you?” to “demand” that a person who engaged in racist acts actually, you know, apologize for such acts.
Rachel is the first Black Bachelorette, who had to deal with a racist contestant on her show. She’s a lawyer, the daughter of a federal judge appointed by Bill Clinton, a TV correspondent and host, the host of at least two podcasts, and even if she was none of those things, she is still a Black American woman who absolutely knows more about what racism actually looks like today than Chris Harrison.
Rachel’s husband Brian Abasalo also tells us who she is.
And so does she. In a recent episode of her Higher Learning podcast, Rachel said that she was pretty much done with the show. Then, after two apologies, Chris Harrison announced that he was “stepping aside” from the show for an unspecified amount of time.
The women from the current season of The Bachelor issued a statement condemning Harrison and his statements, and standing with Rachel Lindsay. Contestants from the most recent season of The Bachelorette also issued a statement, standing with the women of the current season and Rachel Lindsay. Other leads — including Matt James, Tayshia Adams, and Clare Crawley — also made public statements of support of Rachel and critical of Harrison.
So where does that leave us?
I started recapping The Bachelorette last fall as a writing exercise, something to do for fun and practice. I had just been laid off from my job, I have long loved watching The Bachelor/ette franchise, and I thought that recapping the journey of Claire – at 39, the show’s oldest Bachelorette – would be fun. And it was! When she left with Dale after just four weeks (RIP Claire and Dale!), and Tayshia, now the show’s second Black lead, came in to finish out the season (fingers crossed, Tayshia and Zac!), it was still fun. When I got a regular freelance writing gig that I absolutely love, I considered not recapping Matt’s season, but my husband reminded me that I could probably benefit from the fun of writing in a different style, and he’s right, and I do.
This season is anything but fun.
As a longtime fan of The Bachelor/ette, I’ve long accepted that a certain amount of sexism and misogyny is just baked-in to the show. I don’t like it, but I accept it.
I have also always known that the show is, in its own way, racist, or, at best, weak on issues of race. There has been precious little, if any, diversity on the show before the last five years, and the presence of Black contestants was rarely seen as little more than a symbolic move to defend against accusations of racism.
But while the show has always contained a degree of sexism, it has never contained this degree of racism. I did not sign on for this, and I don’t want to watch it. The women on this show – all of them, Black, white, BIPOC – are supposedly there to find love, but only the Black women are victimized in this very specific way.
All of this is to say, rather than recap tonight’s show, I wanted to reflect on this week, and what it means. In all likelihood, if ABC doesn’t announce major changes this week, I’m probably not going to watch anymore.
Guess I’ll have to find another show to recap!
For posterity, here are the major points from the episode:
After all the buildup and drama, Matt doesn’t invite Heather to stay. And now we have seen Pieper and Heather humiliated. Kit called her bitch (to her face?), Serena C. called her a virus (not, seemingly, to her face, although she did tell Heather she didn’t “want to hear your tears” right now, lovely), Jessenia tells her she obviously isn’t ready to be engaged. Not entertaining.
Chris Harrison’s presence on the show seems about normal, so I guess they didn’t edit him out in response to his recent idiocy. He also talks to Matt as though they’re friends and Chris isn’t a few months away from going on national TV to defend a contestant’s racist acts.
After Heather crashed Pieper’s one-on-one time with Matt – who reacted with uncontrolled laughter, which seemed very immature and Pieper deserves better – Pieper said she felt invisible. She talks about it more on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast
Mid-Episode Rose Ceremony: Bri, Rachael, Serena P., Kit, Jessenia, Abigail get roses, which means goodbye to mean girl Serena C., and runway-slayer actual model Chelsea, who, like Pieper, deserves way better.
Serena P. has a “sexy” tantric yoga date. Taught by a white woman, of course. Serena P. is pretty uncomfortable throughout the date, and Matt tries to make out with her during a breathing-and-eye-contact, probably thinking he’s being goofy or sexy or whatever but again just comes across as immature. He decides they have a romantic connection and Serena P. gets a rose.
Bri tells Matt that she resigned from her job to stay on the show. She was apparently a communications manager at a high-profile tech company in San Francisco, and she told Matt that it was her dream job. This bums me out.
On the group date, Abigail, who has really been struggling with the fact that she hasn’t had a one-on-one date with Matt yet, straight up asks him if he can see a future with her. He says his feelings for other people have grown stronger than his feelings for her, and she leaves. We don’t get to see her say goodbye to the other women, although we do get to see their reactions, and it definitely threw them for a loop.
Kit visits Matt’s room after the group date and self-eliminates, saying that she’s not sure she is ready for a future with him.
Jessenia has a “daredevil” date, where Matt drives a muscle car and tries “drifting.” He’s not very good at that. Despite making out with Jessenia on the hood of the car, Matt doesn’t see a future with her, and she doesn’t get a rose.
End-of-Episode Rose Ceremony: Rachael and Serena P. have roses, and with the mid-episode surprise eliminations of Kit and Abigail, and Jessenia not getting the rose on the date, Matt has two roses left to give to three women. Roses go to Bri and Michelle.
This means goodbye to Pieper, who has deserved better all along. Pieper for Bachelorette! Except only if the show adds Black writers, producers, and decision-makers. Otherwise, Pieper for a happy and emotionally safe future where she is seen and valued.
She deserves better.
Husband: They all deserve better.
Tag scene: Michelle basically being funny and adorable and making me want to be her friend. Dropping pushups before the toast after the rose ceremony! It’s nice to see the women actually enjoying each other’s company, why don’t we see more of this?
