Today, Explained - The Bachelor meets reality

Episode Date: March 5, 2021

Beset by controversy, The Bachelor’s latest season is winding down with an identity crisis. It’s a rare case of reality TV reflecting our cultural reality. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The all-new FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino is bringing you more action than ever. Want more ways to follow your faves? Check out our new player prop tracking with real-time notifications. Or how about more ways to customize your casino page with our new favorite and recently played games tabs. And to top it all off, quick and secure withdrawals. Get more everything with FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600.

Visit connectsontario.ca. If you believe what you hear on the TV or on Facebook, man, that cancel culture is coming for just about everything these days. Dr. Seuss is supposedly getting canceled for his racist caricatures. The Muppets are apparently getting canceled because an old episode featured a Confederate flag. It's getting so bad that this past weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, held in Orlando, Florida, was themed around uncanceling America. Of course, even they had to cancel a speaker who called Judaism a complete lie. You can't win these days with cancel culture, y'all. And now they say cancel culture is coming for one of reality TV's crown jewels,

The Bachelor. The latest season of the show was supposed to be an historic one. Instead, this season's been mired in controversy that's left one of America's most reliable reality TV franchises in a pretty serious identity crisis. This reality TV show is starting to look a lot like reality. Before we get into what's afoot in Bachelor Nation, a quick primer on the show from someone in the know. My name is Brandy Monk-Payton. I am a professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University. Brandy teaches students about The Bachelor. Yes, The Bachelor. Mondays at 8 Eastern, 7 Central Time on ABC. I teach reality television. I teach a lot of TV courses. And so The Bachelor is right up my alley.

Will you accept my final rose? Absolutely. Yes. Yes. So The Bachelor is a reality television dating competition series that premiered on ABC in 2002. Hi, I'm Chris Harrison. And no, I'm not The Bachelor. Tonight, I'm Chris Harrison. And no, I'm not The Bachelor. And it started out with just The Bachelor, but there have been offshoots, spinoffs of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette.

Tonight, the tables have been turned. The roles are reversed. For the first time in television history, a woman will be calling the shots. There's also been a short-lived Bachelor pad where former Bachelor contestants come on to just sort of find love. And it's more of a kind of game show. Think Love Island for the Bachelor pad and Bachelor in Paradise, which is the current iteration of that former contestant social experiment. It's the summer of love with multiple marriage proposals. The show follows a suitor or a suturist.

I don't know if that's a word. And as they sort of try to find love. And generally there are, you know, 20 contestants or so. And each week they go on different dates, individual dates. I can't imagine him having a one-on-one date. It's just hard because I can see that, you know, he could fall in love with Donnie. But it's worth it. It's going to be worth it. But it's going to be hard. Yeah.

Group dates. That's a huge group of people going. Lauren H. Olivia. Olivia. Jamie. Rachel. You get a rose if they're into you. And if not, you go home.

And it continues this way until the very last episode in which the bachelor or bachelorette chooses one person and then that person they can decide to get engaged on screen. You know that? Yes. Oh my gosh. I love you so much. Like engaged for real?

Engaged for real. Seems dangerous, Brandi. It seems really dangerous, and obviously the show does not have a good track record. How about I leave here in my pocket? And I'm not going to use it. And that isn't the controversy we're here to talk to you about. I don't think. There's actually much more controversy going on.

The show's been on, as you said, for nearly 20 years, but this season has been different. What made it different? So the current Bachelor, Matt James, is actually the franchise's first Black male Bachelor in its almost 20-year history. I'm ready to start that next chapter in my life. And nothing can stop me. And it's also a season that is the most diverse in terms of the cast members on the show. And this historic season has been mired by various controversies surrounding castmates in terms of their past behavior related to issues concerning race.

And this has led to Chris Harrison, who has been the host of The Bachelor for its 20 years on air has led to him stepping away from the program for its live final episode. Tell me, where did The Bachelor's issues with race begin? So I think race has always been a sticking point for the show, even though it didn't acknowledge it. I think that there's an assumption about the show when it first airs that the atmosphere that it creates in terms of the actual sort of story of trying to find love and it being a competition program

dedicated towards romance and dating has been a largely white space. And so in 2012, there was a class action lawsuit filed against the Bachelor franchise and the network and producers by two Black males who were critiquing the show's casting policies. These two football players both went to casting calls in the Nashville area, and they auditioned but were subsequently not cast. This is about purposeful discrimination. How do you explain zero for 23 in the 23 seasons of this show? How do you explain no Hispanic, no Asian American, no African American lead roles on this show? They can't explain it.

And so that lawsuit gets dismissed six months after it's filed, citing ABC's First Amendment to creatively express itself freely through programming content, which includes casting decisions. You know, I'm looking for someone who's ready for what I'm ready for. At this point in my life, 31, I'm ready to find a husband, someone who's ready to start a family. In 2017, we get the announcement of Rachel Lindsay, who becomes the first Black bachelorette. And I feel very honored to be the person to represent an African-American woman in this position. And it's a lot on my shoulders, but I feel like I'm ready to take it on. And I mean, the perfect word is honored. How's Rachel do? So Rachel finds love.

She finds love at the end, but her season is also not without complications. And I think what happens with the Bachelor franchise is that you get contestants who have done things in the past or said things in the past that could be considered racist, and that is exposed. And so there were a lot of conflicts

between different men in the house during Rachel's season that were all about issues of race. The only people that I've seen Lee pick fights with have been not the people that he's used to seeing on a daily basis from a cultural perspective. What do you mean? You know exactly what I mean when I say that.

The longer Lee sticks around, the more everyone will become aware of his intolerance. The sort of most famous example from Rachel's season is the conflict between a cast member named Lee. I didn't sign up for this to come here to make friends. Who is a white, fairly conservative cast member and a black male named Kenny.

The more I talk to Rachel, the more my respect for her grows. And so these two have various arguments throughout the show. So you have an unrealistic, violent aspect about you. Oh, look at you trying to twit around. No, I'm being honest. You're a dime store psychologist,

and everybody sees through it. The simple fact that I had to respond to the word aggressive. If I was aggressively, everyone would know. I have no doubt in my mind that you're a stack of bleeding muscle right now. He's trying to provoke me. It results in Rachel actually coming on camera in reality television, what is called the confessional mode, where she talks directly to the camera. And she explicitly talks about her sort of struggles navigating the environment of The Bachelor as it relates to race and really trying to think about her identity and how she's being represented on screen

with this kind of burden of being the first Black woman to sort of appear in this titular role. I get pressured from so many different ways being in this position. And I did not want to get into all of this tonight. And I already know what people are going to say about me and judge me for the decisions that I'm making. I'm going to be the one who has to deal with that and nobody else. And that's a lot. She ultimately will talk about her season as being edited such that at the end, you know,

she almost sort of comes across as an angry black woman. And so I think that's another kind of issue with the show in terms of the way various storylines are edited to make people appear in certain ways. Because at the end of the day, you have the power to do whatever it is you want. You can make an audience fall in love or hate somebody. I've seen it. It's happened to me.

Okay, so that's just some of the background. Let's talk about the foreground, the current controversy surrounding the latest season of The Bachelor featuring Matt James, the show's first Black Bachelor. So the controversy comes behind the scenes and off screen. Bachelor contestant Rachel Kirkenell took to Instagram on Thursday to address allegations of racism leveled against her. After the season premiere, a TikTok user accused Kirkenell of bullying her in the past for dating Black men. Last week, another user accused her of liking racist photos, and pics have surfaced of Kirk Connell at an Old South plantation-themed party while in college in 2018. Kirk Connell

ends up getting highly critiqued on social media platforms because of her inclusion in this kind of plantation cosplay space. Okay, so right out of the gate, you've got this first Black Bachelor and one of the contestants vying for his rose has maybe enjoyed dressing up as a slave owner in the past? Not the best optics. What happens to white Rachel? So on screen, Rachel is fine. Rachel is on the show. She has developed a very deep relationship with Matt. I really am already like completely falling in love with you. And I want to walk out of here with you. And I want to start my life with you. And I hope that'll happen. This controversy off screen with Rachel Kirkconnell,

a white female cast member, leads to the reemergence of Rachel Lindsay on the scene to talk about issues concerning race on the show with Chris Harrison in an interview that she does for Extra TV. Okay, so we got a lot of Rachels here. So there's this Rachel on the current season of The Bachelor

who fans of the show discover has glorified basically slavery in her past. And this brings Rachel Lindsay, the first Black bachelorette, back into Bachelor Nation to interview the host of the show on Extra, which is a TV show about entertainment. Is that right? Yes, that's exactly right. What are your thoughts about Rachel Kirkenell and the allegations attached to her? Okay, how does this interview go? So the interview doesn't go well. When you hold that under the lens, it's not a good look.

It's not a good, well, Rachel, is it a good look in 2018 or is it not a good look in 2021? It's not a good look ever because she's celebrating the old South. If I went to that party, what would I represent at that party? I don't disagree with you. You're 100% right in 2021. That was not the case in 2018. Again, I'm not defending Rachel. I just know that, I don't know, 50 million people did that in 2018.

Harrison does not want to indict Kirk Connell for her previous actions. But he uses the language and I think manipulates the language of wokeness in order to defend any kind of, you know, backlash against Rachel Kirk Connell. And who is Chris Harrison? And who is whatever woke police person out there? When, who are you? And that's, that's, I've heard this a lot of like, I think she should. I think he should. Who the hell are you? Who are you that you demand this? How's that go for him? It does not go well for him. He gets a lot of criticism online and calls for him to be fired, calls for his own canceling, right? Because he ultimately is seen as not actually listening to anything that

the first Black Bachelorette is saying in terms of trying to create change on the show and holding the show accountable to its presumed commitments to diversity and inclusion. And so ultimately, Chris Harrison decides to step away from the program and think, I suppose, is what he's doing. What is he doing? Thinking. But he steps away from the program, and particularly he steps away from the live special that airs after the final rose is given out. Will Bachelor Nation survive without its host, Chris Harrison? Stay tuned after the message on Today Explained. Thank you. Support for today explained comes from Ramp. Ramp is the corporate card and spend management software designed to help you save time and put money back in your pocket.

Ramp says they give finance teams unprecedented control and insight into company spend. With Ramp, you're able to issue cards to every employee with limits and restrictions and automate expense reporting so you can stop wasting time at the end of every month. And now you can get $250 when you join Ramp. You can go to ramp.com slash explained ramp.com slash explained r a m p.com slash explained cards issued by Sutton Bank member FDIC terms and conditions apply bet MGM authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style,

there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a slam dunk and authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,

please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Okay, so Brandi, you gave us a lot of background on The Bachelor from the early days to the first Black Bachelorette to the first Black Bachelor to the greatest controversy in the show's history, which leads to the show's beloved host stepping away from the show after this season. Is that right? Stepping away from the, at the very least, the last final episode. And his future is still up for grabs. I plan to be back, and I want to be back. What does it all mean?

I mean, why does this host need to step away? Is it because he misunderstood something pretty significant about what people want from this show right now? I think that Chris Harrison's status on the show has changed over time. So initially, he was just the host. Throughout the week, of course, you'll find out who goes on the days when you get the date cards. I have your first one right here. It all begins right here, boys. And at certain points throughout the, you know, 20 years,

he has also been a kind of therapist for The Bachelor or Bachelorette as well as the other contestants on the show. While you were saying goodbye to Desiree, she kept repeating, you know, you're making the biggest mistake, you're making a mistake. How'd that make you feel? What were you thinking? It crushed me.

Ultimately, he wields a lot of power in the franchise and has become this sort of important figurehead for the show. And so I think his stepping away is, I was surprised that he stepped away, but I think it's necessary in order to re-evaluate the show's commitments. And also, it's a way for the show to begin to reckon with questions of privilege, especially as it concerns issues around race. How big a deal is it that The Bachelor's host, Chris Harrison, steps away from the show?

Is this like when Alex Trebek died or something? Chris Harrison makes the show in so many ways in terms of the way in which audiences end up perceiving of particular situations and moments. He's also, as many reality television hosts are, is a familiar face. And so for this familiar face to not be there for a really pivotal culmination of a season, particularly a historic season like Matt James' The First Black Bachelor, is really notable. Let's talk about ratings, because that's what networks like ABC, who owns this show, really care about, obviously. I mean, how have the ratings been for this latest

season? How have the ratings been for these almost 20 years of shows? The show is highly popular, particularly amongst its target audience, which is a female audience. And in general, that has in the past been understood as a largely white female audience, ages 18 to 34. Chris Harrison being away, I don't think that's going to take away from the intrigue around the live finale. Because now that there's this controversy, I think it's very clear that this live finale episode after the Final Rose special will get high ratings. What comes after that remains to be seen in terms of how the show can recalibrate itself. But I think certainly the Chris Harrison not being there. And very much within this climate of cancel culture are calling to sort of boycott the show if Chris Harrison is canceled from the program.

So I think that the show and the network are balancing competing interests. And I like to think of it as the interest of this growing, diverse, multicultural audience and the commitment of the audience that, you know, has been there for 20 years and is probably more homogenous and slightly more conservative. Is there a risk here that if you get rid of the host and you make it much more diverse, that all of a sudden the audience of the show will sort of disappear and they'll just have to cancel the entire show? I think that's always a risk. I do not think it will happen. Fundamentally, entertainment, the television industry, and these reality programs are all really coming at an inflection point, right? They're all having to reckon with this. We've seen other issues emerge from Survivor and Big Brother, right? So I think Bachelor is a really interesting example because the show is presumably about romance and ideas around relationships that I

think can make people uncomfortable when we start talking about race and issues of desire. And so I don't think that the alienation of a particular subset of the audience will be the ultimate demise of the program. If anything, we will, you know, come to understand dating differently, right, If the show presents a more accurate, heterogeneous understanding of this process. It feels a little bit like what's going on on The Bachelor right now is just what's going on in America right now. I mean, thinking about how much I'm seeing Fox News talking about Dr. Seuss books being canceled. And Mr. Potato Head, you can't make it up.

Or Representative Jim Jordan calling for a congressional hearing this week on cancel culture or the fact that CPAC this year was called like the uncanceling of America. It just feels like what's going on in our culture right now, of course, is being reflected in The Bachelor. Yes, and what's happening in Bachelor Nation, the U.S., right, is another kind of culture war. And certainly there are claims to be had about, and I hate to use the term canceling, but that's the language that Chris Harrison used. And he also used the language of wokeness. And I think these terms have been wielded in bad faith a lot of times.

And so I'm really interested in the ways in which the production practices can actually shift, right? How we can think about people behind the scenes and casting directors and various other producers that are really kind of creating the show, developing it, how we can facilitate a more honest and transparent conversation around those privileges. And what needs to change? I mean, if you could recreate The Bachelor in advance of its 20th season next year, what would you do differently?

It's such a loaded question because, to be clear, with Matt's season, The Bachelor franchise made a big show of saying that they had hired diversity consultants. And they were really trying to sort of be inclusive and sort of give voice to various identities on screen. And I think they succeeded in some of that goal. But I think what's trickier is to reevaluate the actual storytelling logics of the show, right? How the show presents journeys to find love and to really think about and do deep work on how those narratives are primarily geared towards whiteness, right? For example, the show is very invested in making people vulnerable.

You kind of set the bar for people because you're being vulnerable with me. If you were vulnerable, then you generally get a rose if you're in a conversation with the bachelor or bachelorette and you reveal something about yourself. Tonight, someone who was very open and vulnerable was Tia.

So, do we accept this rose? Yes! But I think we have to think about what is it? It is a very different task for white contestants to be vulnerable, perhaps, and Black and other contestants of color. For example, there is one season with a Black woman contestant named Jubilee. She's clearly within the show very mysterious

and kind of aloof. And the Bachelor at the time, who was a white male Bachelor, keeps sort of talking about how, you know, she's not expressing herself fully. At the end of our conversation the other night, you had mentioned to me that you haven't been back to Haiti because of the fear of bringing back those memories or what that will mean. And I want to hear like a little bit more about what that means to you and why that kind of still holds you back.

And it takes her recounting her story, right? This sort of very traumatic story. I think like the, you know, like my fear of not being lovable and rejection, all that stuff kind of comes from my past. And it's because my whole family died, except for me. And, um... And it's just, you know, and I deal with, like, a lot of guilt. That allows him to sort of, you know, give her a rose, right?

She has passed the test. So it's those kinds of questions at the sort of thematic and storytelling level that I think need to be addressed. And those are really hard to address because it's something that is ingrained in our society in terms of how we understand desire, how we understand how one moves about in the world. And so I think that requires a little bit more massaging. It requires more attentive editors in the room to really kind of think about what new stories they could tell from these contestants that they get. Is that too tall an order for reality TV? Absolutely. I'm glad you asked. Yeah, it's a really tall order. Ultimately, reality television is a commercial genre, right? Like all television, but reality television in particular relies on conflict and

controversy amongst participants. So you need a money shot, right? You need these moments where, you know, the authentic emerges. And so I think there's always going to be manipulation in that arena in order to obtain a certain goal for attention and for ratings. So are they going to do that deep analytical, ethical work? Probably not. But I do think that the terrain around them is shifting. So again, and I go back to, you know, summer of 2020 being a real inflection point for a lot of people about, you know, the way in which we discuss race in this country and, you know, issues around structural racism

and violences, both actual material violence, police brutality, as well as symbolic violence, which is to say violence around representation and violence around images. And so I think that we are in a kind of point where we can't turn back. And so there may be small steps that can be taken to sort of account for this current climate. With Chris Harrison removing himself from the final live episode, I think that's progress. I think that's a step in a good direction. And I think that it allows for the show to reflect and pause and come back in a different way, or at the very least, an honest way. Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok you