Spoiler alert! The next bachelorette was announced on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” directly after the Feb. 13 episode of “The Bachelor.” Rachel Lindsay was chosen to be next season’s bachelorette while still competing on this season of “The Bachelor.”
According to “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” host Chris Harrison, the pick was announced early because they begin filming days after “The Bachelor” is complete. The producers want to cast the show specifically for Rachel, and that can not be done in just two days, according to Harrison.
After 14 years of the television show and more than 30 cycles of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” the first person of color has finally been chosen to be ‘the face’ of the show. Although people of different ethnicities have been included on the show for many years as contestants, this is the first time they have been given the title the “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” to a person of color.
“I’m happy to represent myself as a black woman in front of America and I’m happy for America to rally behind me and see what it’s like for me to be on this journey to find love,” Lindsay told PEOPLE Magazine. “Honestly, it’s not going to be that different from any other season of ‘The Bachelorette.’”
Many reality television shows star African Americans such as “Love and Hip Hop” and “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” but this is one of the first times that a person of color has been casted on a predominantly white show. Although it is very exciting that the show is becoming more and more diverse, the show should not have announced it early and ultimately give away who bachelor Nick Viall proposes to at the end of his season.
