The Bachelor
バチェラー（米国版）
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
The rose ceremony's origin; two decades of arguments about race, editing and who is 'here for the right reasons'.
The Bachelor, created by Mike Fleiss, has run on ABC since March 2002. One man meets a large group of women and narrows them down week by week, through group dates, one-on-one dates and rose ceremonies at which the women who receive no rose go home. The last weeks bring meetings with families, overnight 'fantasy suite' dates and a final rose, traditionally with a proposal, and an After the Final Rose special then brings the lead and his last two women together on a talk-show stage. Chris Harrison hosted its first twenty-five seasons.
The twenty-fifth season, broadcast in 2021 and documented week by week, was led by Matt James, a 28-year-old real estate broker and charity founder from Raleigh, North Carolina, the first Black man to lead the show. Because of the pandemic it was filmed entirely in a quarantine bubble at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania. Thirty-two women arrived and five more joined in the third week. Abigail Heringer, the franchise's first deaf contestant, won the first-impression rose. The last four were Michelle, Rachael, Bri and Serena P. Matt's estranged father, Manny, came to see him, and they talked about their strained relationship. After the overnight dates Bri went home, and in the finale Matt said goodbye to Michelle Young and gave the final rose to Rachael Kirkconnell, a 24-year-old graphic designer, without proposing.
The ending came off the show. In February 2021 Kirkconnell was accused of liking racist posts online, and photographs emerged of her at an antebellum-plantation-themed fraternity formal in 2018; she apologised. Harrison defended her publicly, then apologised, stepped aside and did not host After the Final Rose; in June he left the franchise for good. Emmanuel Acho hosted the special, where it was revealed that Matt had broken up with Rachael. They got back together in April 2021 and split for good in January 2025. Katie Thurston and Michelle Young went on to lead the next two seasons of The Bachelorette.
Starring
Chris HarrisonHost
The host of the first twenty-five seasons, who stepped aside before this season's final special after defending a contestant.
Matt JamesHimself (the Bachelor)
A real estate broker and charity founder from Raleigh, North Carolina, the first Black man to lead the show.
Rachael KirkconnellParticipant
A 24-year-old graphic designer who receives the final rose, and whose past conduct becomes the season's controversy.
Michelle YoungParticipant
The runner-up, sent home in the finale, who later led the eighteenth season of The Bachelorette.
Abigail HeringerParticipant
The franchise's first deaf contestant, who tells Matt about her cochlear implants and wins the first-impression rose.
Emmanuel AchoHost (After the Final Rose)
The author of a bestseller on race who hosted the After the Final Rose special in Harrison's place.
Why it matters
The Bachelor made courtship into a ritual of public elimination, and for two decades it has argued with itself about what that ritual rewards: sincerity or performance, the right reasons or the camera. Its twenty-fifth season forced the argument onto race. For most of the franchise's history its leads and most contestants were white, and it took twenty-five seasons for a Black man to lead it. When a finalist's past surfaced online, and the host who had embodied the show for nineteen years defended her, the fallout ended his tenure and turned the season's real climax into a conversation about racism. The format itself shows how a show built on choosing in public turns private histories into public verdicts. Its Japanese edition, by contrast, forbids sex between the lead and the women altogether, a reminder of how differently the same romance can be staged.