The Bachelor franchise consists of multiple shows including The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, The Golden Bachelor, and The Golden Bachelorette. In these shows, contestants vie for the love of the bachelor/bachelorette/golden bachelor/golden bachelorette. During 2024, Season 28 of The Bachelor debuted on national television. Joey Graziadei was the bachelor of the season. The final two contestants were Kelsey and Daisy. The season ended with a shocking finale in which Daisy realized that Joey had been distant during the final date as a way to let her down gently because he was not going to choose her at the end. This was difficult for Daisy to hear since she had just opened herself up to Joey, and proclaimed her love for him during the finale. Daisy visited Kelsey’s room during the finale, and reassured her that she was the one for Joey. She gave Kelsey the relief of knowing that when she walked down the aisle to see Joey for the last time of the season, he would get down on one knee to propose to her. This snapshot of The Bachelor’s finale gives a taste of the core themes explored in the show: love, heartbreak, and friendship.
The franchise has become more inclusive over the years by introducing The Bachelorette, The Golden Bachelor, and The Golden Bachelorette to give women and older adults the opportunity to find love. Furthermore, it has tried to increase the racial diversity of contestants. However, it has yet to create a dating show for queer individuals. The Bachelor franchise exemplifies heteronormativity by centering its storylines around the heterosexual couple model.
Moreover, it reproduces stereotypes about gender by having the women and men contestants participate in gender typed activities. For example, one of the games that the women of The Bachelor participated in was a mock wedding in which they adorned themselves in white dresses, pretended to be Joey’s bride, and vied for his attention. The men of the Season 21 of The Bachelorette did not engage in activities of this sort. Their season was full of helicopter rides, race car driving, and comedy club visits. By having the women and men engage in stereotypical activities associated with their gender, they are reproducing age old discourse that suggests that women engage in feminine activities and men in masculine ones. In addition, The Bachelor franchise is problematic for its lack of body diversity. They are known to cast only slim, conventionally attractive people. Season 21 of The Bachelorette featured one plus size contestant; however, he was eliminated in the first episode. This casting decision of mostly slim, conventionally attractive people, similar to most other Hollywood productions, conveys the message that only slim, conventionally attractive people are deserving of having their love stories broadcast to the world. The Bachelor franchise has grown a lot in its representation of age and racial diversity, but it still has a long way to go to create positive representation of queer and plus size individuals.
3 replies on “The Bachelor Franchise and Heteronormativity”
I like how you mentioned the very heteronormative activities themselves, (not just the casting and concept of the show) the contestants have to play out; I wonder if there are moments when the contestants themselves find the gender roles too excessive. We would not see it on the show, but rather in post-production interviews, as these reality TV shows are known to heavily edit and cut out footage that falls outside the narrative they are trying to produce. Comapiring interviews alongside what is aired, would be an interesting approach if you decide to continue exploring The Bachelor. The Bachelor season in 2020 was one of the first reality TV dating shows I watched, and it was so terrible, straight and white, that I did not finish the season. When looking for more queer dating shows, I found “Are You The One?” (S8) two years ago, when the contestant had more fluid sexualities; I thought the season was terrible, but it was more interesting for me. I would love to know your thoughts on queer perspectives in newer dating shows and how they portray sexuality.
This post offers a thoughtful and nuanced critique of The Bachelor franchise, highlighting both the emotional storytelling that draws audiences in and the structural limitations that continue to shape the show’s casting and narratives. The moment between Daisy and Kelsey was a rare instance of female solidarity in a show built on romantic competition. Still, as the post rightly points out, The Bachelor remains deeply heteronormative and lacking in body diversity. The absence of queer love stories and the consistent casting of conventionally attractive, slim contestants send a narrow and exclusionary message about who is deemed worthy of love. While strides have been made in terms of age and racial diversity, true progress would require the franchise to expand its definition of love and desirability.
I appreciated your thoughtful post about heteronormativity in the Bachelor franchise. Particularly, I found your analysis of the differences in activities done by contestants on The Bachelor vs on The Bachelorette interesting. While the Bachelor franchise has begun including more people of color, they still struggle with the way they portray race on the show. Throughout the years, including in recent seasons, there have been various racist incidents surrounding the show. The Bachelor franchise’s pervasive whiteness has remained, even as they have increased their diversity. I wonder if there is a way for the Bachelor franchise to exist without such heternormative framings? It is a show structured around hetersexual marriage, and to truly queer it, the way that it values different types of relashionships would need to be totaly overhauled? As you point out, the Bachelor needs to improve its positive representation of plus-size bodies. To this, I add that the Bachelor also needs to improve its positive representations of race, disability, and non-normative gender roles. And perhaps the real solution is to figure out a new framework for reality romance TV shows that do not place marriage as the end goal, and also do not rely on traditional gender roles and presentation for storytelling.