‘The Bachelor’ Franchise’s 2022 Progress Isn’t Enough to Win Back Fans

It’s been more than 20 years since The Bachelor premiered and raised the standards of romantic reality television shows. But after two decades of watching contestants hand out roses and put their hearts on the line, some longtime members of Bachelor Nation are growing tried of the franchise’s stale show formats, predictable drama, and reluctance to embrace big changes.

Earlier this year, Decider spoke with several former superfans of the franchise about why people are falling out of love with The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise. The franchise’s pattern of problematic behavior and systemic racism, along with a wavering commitment to diversity, remain major complaints within the fandom. But those interviewed also cited a growing frustration with and fatigue from the repetitive format of the franchise’s flagship shows.

With growing reality dating show competition from streaming services like Netflix, the Bachelor franchise has to make an active effort to keep fans engaged and remain relevant. From hiring a new host and casting two Bachelorette leads to revamping Paradise and more, the flagship shows noticeably shook up their structure in 2022. But were the changes enough? Let’s take a look back at the year through the eyes of Bachelor Nation to see which major moves paid off, which backfired, and what the franchise needs to prioritize in 2023.

1. Hiring Jesse Palmer As The New Franchise Host

In 2021, longtime host and executive producer Chris Harrison stepped away from the Bachelor franchise after he came under fire for excusing and defending historical racism to the first Black bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay. In wake of his controversial exit, author and former pro-football player Emmanuel Acho stepped in to host The Bachelor‘s Season 25 “After The Final Rose” special; franchise alum Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe joined forces to co-host Seasons 17 and 18 of The Bachelorette; and a a rotating lineup of guest hosts, including David Spade, Lil Jon, Tituss Burgess, Lance Bass, and beloved Paradise bartender Wells Adams led Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise. It was a refreshing change of pace to watch diverse hosts lead these shows, but in September 2021, it was Bachelor alum and former NFL quarterback-turned-host Jesse Palmer who landed the full-time gig for the franchise, kicking off his time as host in 2022 by leading Clayton Echard’s season of The Bachelor.

Like a number of other fans, I was so perplexed by and bored with the choice to cast Clayton as The Bachelor that I took a break from the series that season. But I watched Palmer lead The Bachelorette and Paradise, and what I will say is he’s capital F Fine! I wound up liking him a lot more than I anticipated, but in the end, the franchise made an active choice to replace one white guy with another white guy. And that certainly doesn’t support a lasting commitment to diversity. After seeing Tayshia and Kaitlyn lead two seasons of The Bachelorette, I can’t shake the desire for that series to be hosted by a woman who’s well-versed in emotional heart-to-hearts and can more closely relate to the struggles and experiences of the leads. In terms of Paradise, I think it’s a crime that Wells didn’t get the job based on experience alone, but anyone who watched Season 8 knows that he did the heavy lifting while Palmer occasionally popped in to make official announcements and run rose ceremonies.

2. Casting Two Bachelorettes In A Single Season

Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia are two wonderful women full of personality and deserving of love, but they absolutely shouldn’t have been cast as duel leads in a single season of The Bachelorette. Watching their friendship strengthen throughout (and after) Season 19 was heartwarming, but the unconventional setup saw the women regularly rejected, compared, and forced to tiptoe around their feelings to spare each other. After getting their hearts broken on Clayton’s season of The Bachelor, Rachel and Gabby each deserved individual opportunities to find love, not a toxic environment that pit them against each other and gave contestants ample opportunities to mistreat them. It’s also worth noting that though both Rachel and Gabby got engaged at the end of their joint season, neither found lasting romantic love on The Bachelorette and have since broken up with their partners.

The Verdict: No more joint seasons, please! It’s a recipe for disaster, and fresh show structures can exist without added emotional destruction.

3. Making A First Impression on America

During The Bachelorette Season 19’s After The Final Rose special, Jesse Palmer informed America’s next Bachelor lead, Zach Shallcross, that he would be meeting the first contestants from his season on stage that evening. But there was another twist: Viewers would get to decide who got his First Impression Rose through a new texting initiative. Shallcross met the following contestants: Brooklyn Willie, Brianna Thorbourne, Bailey Brown, Catherine “Cat” Wong, and Christina Mandrell. After the meet and greets, America granted Thorbourne the prized rose, which means the 24-year-old entrepreneur from Jersey City, New Jersey, is automatically be safe on the first night of filming in the mansion.

The Verdict: This was a small, largely inconsequential change, but it was a fun way to switch things up and engage viewers who are frequently left screaming at their TVs, powerlessly begging leads to choose or send home certain contestants.

4. Revamping Paradise

Bachelor in Paradise is already the franchise’s most freely structured show, but Season 8 was filled with extra twists, surprise guests, and unique creative choices that gave viewers and contestants hilarious highs and outrageous lows. Here’s a review of some of Season 8’s many standout switchups from the past season of Paradise:

THE PROS

• We saw more Wells this season: We not only got to watch him give relationship advice, pour drinks, and talk about his wife Sarah Hyland, but we got to see him give Emmy-worthy performances in “Wells’ Storytime” shorts.
• The show sprung “Split Week” on contestants, a ripoff of a Love Island twist which involved separating the men and women of Paradise for a week and introducing them to new people to test their relationships: The way the show went about “Split Week” seemed overly emotionally destructive for contestants. The franchise gets zero points for originality, but in the end, the distance proved to be an interesting experiment that reinforced the strongest couples on the beach.
• We saw a camera man give a talking head to comment on Aaron and Genevieve’s infamous Itching vs Pain argument: Major props for that rare, hilarious peek into production.
• The live finale/reunion got down to business and featured a Greg Grippo cameo: The Season 8 farewell was super satisfying, succinct, and worked to answer as many lingering fan questions as possible.

THE CONS

• Season 8 featured the largest cast in Paradise history, plus a supersized season with 16 episodes that aired twice a week on Mondays and Tuesdays: The cast was too large and the season was too long!
• Season 8 repeatedly welcomed eliminated contestants back to the beach…just because they wanted to come back? This reeked of unnecessary, manufactured drama.
• Special guests ranged from former Bachelorettes Gabby and Rachel to “Paradise Royalty” couples like Becca Kufrin and Thomas Jacobs and Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon: Producers took things too far with Ashley and Jared, who received a whopping 17 minutes of screen time in Episode 4, according to data collected by Bachelor Data Analyst. (For comparison, the next highest screen time for a contestant in Episode 4 was eight minutes.)
• The show welcomed two contestants from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette Australia who were largely unknown to U.S. viewers and sent home Split Week newbies before they got a real shot at finding love: Both unnecessary!
• Jesse Palmer tried (and failed) to marry engaged contestants in Mexico: Sir, please calm down.

The Verdict: Paradise Season 8’s exhaustive efforts to liven things up were fun, but overwhelming. At times it felt like too much was going on, so if the show lives on for Season 9, try Doing Less.

5. Promising A “Love Story” This Bachelor Season

Many members of Bachelor Nation were initially drawn to these shows because they wanted to watch love stories unfold onscreen. But over the years, it’s started to feel like the franchise’s rising focus on capturing the drama and conflict each season has outweighed its interest in showing romantic storylines. All of the tear-filled promos, contestants fighting, and extended screen time for each season’s “villain” start to feel gross and irresponsible, but ahead of Shallcross’ season of The Bachelor, host Jesse Palmer made a point of assuring fans there will be a shift in focus.

“It’s really all about the love story and romance and a little bit less about the drama, I think,” Palmer told Us Weekly. “The women are really into Zach. Zach’s so emotionally mature and he’s a guy that’s not afraid to wear his emotion on his sleeve. He’s very, very intentional. This is easily the most emotional show that I’ve hosted in the franchise.”

The Verdict: It’s a promising sign if the franchise is finally addressing viewer critiques head-on and taking them into consideration when producing the shows, but we’ll have to wait and watch Season 27 to see if they really follow through.

The Bachelor Franchise Still Has Work To Do In 2023 And Beyond

It’s a new year for the Bachelor Franchise to prove it’s willing to put in the work needed to improve, honor fan feedback, and work towards greater diversity and inclusion, and with a growing roster of reality dating shows instantly available to this fandom, they’re not going to wait around forever for change. The franchise did make a visible effort to switch things up and make progress in 2022, but while those efforts were refreshing, they weren’t enough to win back fans who quit the franchise. Casting diverse leads, upholding a commitment to inclusion year-round, and consistently striving to do better are essential components of the franchise’s future success that some fans feel have already fizzled out. If these shows want to not only survive, but thrive again, they’re going to have to be more flexible, more in touch with viewers, more open to harsh feedback, and more willing to challenge complacency.

Switching up 20-year-old show structures is long-overdue and will help keep things fresh, but not when it comes at the expense of lead/contestant well-beings like the dual Bachelorette season. And so many fans flocked to the franchise for love stories, not to follow repetitive petty drama, so it’s crucial to remember that unique viewing experiences and “good television” aren’t solely born from manufactured emotional destruction. Saying Shallcross’ season is “all about the love story and romance and a little bit less about the drama” is a weighty comment from Palmer, and if it proves true it will be a step in the right direction and a small but promising show of self-awareness within the franchise. But there’s still significant, essential work to be done to beyond dialing down the drama, so 2023 will be a telling year in the eyes of Bachelor Nation.

The Bachelor Season 27 premieres January 23, 2023 on ABC.