Dad’s not mad, he’s just disappointed. During the 2017 season of The Bachelorette, franchise creator and executive producer Mike Fleiss presented the perfect bachelorette: Rachel Lindsay was no-nonsense, ebullient, and good on camera. Lindsay was the franchise’s first black lead, and arguably the best ever. But Fleiss isn’t happy with how his beloved Bachelor Nation received Lindsay, given the series’ ratings dip during her season. “I found it incredibly disturbing in a Trumpish kind of way,†Fleiss told the New York Times. “How else are you going to explain the fact that she’s down in the ratings, when — black or white — she was an unbelievable bachelorette? It revealed something about our fans.â€
So how will fans respond to even more diversity? As NBC broadcasts those other winter games, ABC will introduce the Bachelor Winter Games, a Bachelor in Paradise–style show with contestants from franchise’s domestic and international editions. Fleiss is determined to make Bachelor Nation eat their veggies: “I’m raring to try it again,†he told the Times about casting another nonwhite lead. “I think it’s important.â€