The Bachelor is one of the longest-running reality TV dating franchises on the air, they’ve been dealing with some major backlash from viewers in recent seasons for how they’ve treated cast . Meant to help singles find a long-lasting relationship through deep connection and fairytale romance, The Bachelor and its spin-offs, The Bachelorette, The Golden Bachelor, and The Golden Bachelorette have all struggled.

While some spin-offs, like Bachelor In Paradise, are created to bring cast together and create drama alongside sometimes successful couples, others are meant to turn the fantasy of a fairytale romance into reality. The Golden Bachelor season 1 looked at mature relationships through the lens of The Bachelor franchise. After production chose to position lead Gerry Turner in a certain light to make him more palatable, it was uncovered that his backstory was mostly fictional. While Bachelor producers have ignored other scandals, with tragic new information about Gerry’s health issues coming to light, they need to face their mistakes.

Bachelor Producers Set Gerry Turner Up For Failure

He Was Meant To Take The Fall For The Golden Bachelor Scandal

Although The Golden Bachelor was a fascinating look into a more mature version of the standard Bachelor story, the series was meant to have a shiny Bachelor overlay to ensure that nothing on screen was ever too serious. With Gerry chosen as the lead after a nationwide casting search, Bachelor producers packaged the widower with a Bachelor-ized story to make him seem like the perfect person. Though Gerry had been in relationships after his wife ed tragically in 2017, the series made it clear in his talking points that they wanted Gerry to appear unfailingly loyal until the show’s start.

When it came out that Gerry’s relationship history wasn’t exactly as squeaky clean as he’d said during his Bachelor-sanctioned press tour, the media came after the Indiana native instead of looking to the show, who’d likely developed his media strategy. Gerry was personally eviscerated by the press throughout the majority of 2024. When he spoke up about his tragic cancer diagnosis late in the year, it became clear that he hadn’t been the person behind building his persona on The Golden Bachelor. Instead, Bachelor producers set Gerry up to take the fall should anything difficult or problematic happen to him.

Bachelor Producers Have Been Dealing With Other Major Scandals

The Bachelorette & The Golden Bachelorette Casts Have Been Problematic

Although Gerry’s scandal has been one of the most confusing, there have been other issues with the most recent seasons of the franchise shows. The Bachelorette season 21 was meant to celebrate the lead, Jenn Tran, and her heritage. As the first-ever Asian American Bachelorette, Jenn’s background was used as part of the introduction package for the season, but her journey quickly deteriorated after that. Jenn’s cast was curated for another Bachelorette candidate. It was clear that many of the men weren’t interested in her, including her eventual winner pick, Devin Strader, who was revealed to have a violent past.

While Jenn’s cast was curated for another lead, The Golden Bachelorette season 1 cast didn’t suffer from the same issue. However, the issues with Jenn’s winner pick, Devin, were prevalent throughout Joan Vassos’ cast. While Devin had a restraining order from the past citing some violent behavior, two of the men on Joan’s cast were called out during The Golden Bachelorette season 1 for having restraining orders in the past. Though one of the guys, Gil Ramirez, was an early elimination for Joan, the other man with a restraining order in his past, Guy Gansert, was one of Joan’s finalists.

The Series Doesn’t Seem To Be Making Strides Forward

The Producers Have Not Answered Questions Surrounding Equality Or Change

Although there have been issues in past seasons of the shows, like the racial insensitivity shown throughout the franchise’s run, The Bachelor producers haven’t answered for their problems or shown any ability for them. While the producers have publicly been asked about what they plan to do to ensure that there are changes set in place to make the series more diverse and equitable, The Bachelor producers haven’t spoken up about their plans or seemed to make any changes to move forward. Instead, the franchise continues to make massive blunders that prove they aren’t in touch with their viewers’ realities.

I Don’t Think Bachelor Nation Is Safe For Cast

They Aren’t Protecting The Leads Or Stars

While The Bachelor season 29 is set to be released in the new year with Grant Ellis as the lead, I don’t think the franchise is a safe space for its cast or leads anymore. The series shouldn’t be continuing after throwing its leads to the wolves and allowing cast with dangerous pasts onto the shows. While there could be things happening behind the scenes to improve the series and make it a safer space, I don’t think The Bachelor producers are doing anything to make changes in their production timelines or processes to improve cast safety.

Source: The Golden Bachelor/Instagram