Following the announcement that Peter Weber, a 28-year-old pilot from California with a penchant for windmill sex, ascended to the ranks as The Bachelor’s newest leading man, former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay wants to say: [Shrugs]. That’s because the newlywed, as she explained to Entertainment Tonight in a new interview, was hopeful the show would finally embrace the first black Bachelor with fan-favorite Mike Johnson, in the same way she made history as The Bachelorette’s first black lead two years ago. “I think Peter seems like a very nice guy. He seems lovely. This is absolutely nothing against him, but how many Peters have we seen before?†Lindsay said. “What season are we on? 24. So, we’ve seen 24 Peters. I’m bored. And it’s nothing personal against him.†She added that since no alums within the Bachelorverse had yet to voice their opinions on the casting, she felt it was her “duty†to be vocal about hers.
“I want to be hopeful, but when you have a contestant like Mike Johnson, who seems to check all the boxes, how is he not the Bachelor? I don’t understand,†she continued. “I’m sure they have some reason for not picking him, and I’m going to trust in that, but at the same time, the system isn’t working in giving us a Bachelor who is a person of color. So we need to change the system. Something has to be done. Break the rules, step outside the box, give the people what they want.†Lindsay, who recently wed the winner of her Bachelorette season, had previously been critical about how she thought the franchise treated her poorly. In particular, she condemned the way the producers handled her season finale, saying they made her look like an “angry black female†with the episode’s editing style.