America was ready for a black president before it was ready for a black Bachelor or Bachelorette. Such are the strange realities behind so-called reality TV. In a combined 31 seasons on ABC, neither The Bachelor nor The Bachlorette has ever had an African-American as its central star, though both series have included black contestants.
Fusion’s Molly Fitzpatrick recently tracked down 10 of these Bachelor/Bachelorette veterans to find out what their experience on the dating show was like. [Note: Fusion, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.] Understandably, their mileage varies. Several have warm memories of the shows’ producers and speak about them in glowing, nostalgic terms. Others felt manipulated. All have given some thought to the issue of tokenism, though some didn’t even think about it until after they were done filming and began reading internet comments at home. The drama on the show, they all agree, is quite real. In fact, some of the horror stories involving race come from the interaction between contestants. One woman says she was “aghast” when a competitor asked, “Do you know who your dad is?”