Bachelor showrunners eliminated after toxic workplace accusations

For what it’s worth, Freeland and Graebner both staunchly denied the allegations against them, many of which seem to have come from veterans of the franchise unhappy that new blood had been brought in to shake things up after Fleiss left the series. (After an HR investigation into racial discrimination, according to a Variety report.) Freeland formerly ran the Canadian version of The Bachelor; she was criticized for bringing in some executives from that series—including her spouse, Michael Margolis—when she began co-running the American series. (We’ll be honest, meanwhile, and note that a lot of the complaints in the earlier report sound like exactly what you’d get when new bosses take over a production that’s been running for 20-plus years with some very entrenched people in place; one person seemed mad because crew members were asked to wear nametags, and even the upset ones had to begrudgingly admit that hours on the series had gotten better since the Fleiss days.)

The Bachelor has never been free of controversy, what with its basic premise—”What if we had one person date 30 people for several weeks and then marry one of them on live TV?”—being fertile soil for the gnarly fruit of human extremes. But it does seem to have gotten even more problem-prone in recent years, between Fleiss’ departure, allegations of inappropriate behavior on the set of spin-off Bachelor In Paradise, and the departure of long-time host Chris Harrison a few years back. Freeland and Graebener were brought in to right the ship, along with franchise veteran Jason Ehrlich, who left the franchise after overseeing its one inarguable hit in recent years, the first season of The Golden Bachelor. God knows where the ship of TV love goes sailing on from here.