8 Things The Bachelorette Season 21 Needs To Prove To Bachelor Nation (The Pressure Is On)

The Bachelorette season 21 is coming soon, but Jenn Tran’s journey has a lot more resting on its shoulders than originally anticipated after Bachelor Nation began to question the show’s credibility. While there have been couples who stay together long-term throughout the run of The Bachelor franchise, the shows have typically produced couples who dissolve their relationships quickly after their season ends. The show does try to foster genuine relationships, but their track record hasn’t been great over the years. Despite having a somewhat low success rate, Bachelor Nation hasn’t lost its faith in the series yet. Things have been shaky, however, since the introduction of The Golden Bachelor and the issues that the spin-off series produced in the franchise as a whole. Bachelor Nation is looking to invest in the franchise but seems to be hesitant.

While The Golden Bachelor was meant to be an exciting expansion for viewers who were looking for something different from the franchise, the series quickly became controversial. Before the premiere, many were curious about the casting choices that had been made by the production team, including casting Gerry Turner as the lead of the series when he had no reality TV experience. While the early episodes of the season introduced Gerry and his contestants favorably, building a connection with Bachelor Nation, things began to crumble as outside drama changed the perception of the series entirely. The Golden Bachelor lead, Gerry, had a spotless reputation before some of his past dating experiences came to light, which led to Bachelor Nation questioning the gentle, caring, vulnerable way he’d been portrayed on the spin-off series the entire time.

When Gerry’s scandal came to light, many viewers felt duped by The Golden Bachelor and the entire Bachelor franchise as a result. While there wasn’t much to go off of, the information was startling and left many wondering if they should continue to support Gerry’s journey. After he chose Theresa Nist on the series and the two left the show engaged, the couple quickly announced they would be getting married in just over a month with a live, televised ceremony. The thought of a live TV wedding was exciting for Bachelor Nation, and people seemed more invested in Gerry and Theresa again, tuning in for the ceremony and watching from afar as they began their relationship. Just three months after their wedding, Gerry and Theresa announced their divorce, which sent Bachelor Nation reeling. Many felt their trust in the franchise wavering and could use The Bachelorette season 21 as a final chance for the franchise to win them back.

8

The Bachelorette Can Still Create A Successful Couple

Viewers Need To See Love Bloom

While the Bachelor franchise has produced several successful couples in their time on the air, there have been far more Bachelor breakups than marriages. While this isn’t always an issue for the viewers, there’s something disappointing about watching a couple form onscreen and then seeing them fall apart in real life. The audience isn’t interested in following relationships from the show as frequently when there’s a higher breakup rate, as getting emotionally invested in something doomed to fail can be painful.

While there have always been splits throughout Bachelor Nation, the fact that Gerry and Theresa got married and nearly immediately chose to divorce is a major sticking point for viewers. Seeing a couple jump in with both feet and build an authentic connection, only to split up a matter of weeks later is a tough break for the franchise. The Bachelorette season 21 needs to do its best to create a genuine, lasting couple in order to prove they still can to the viewers.

7

The Bachelorette Hasn’t Sold Out Completely

The Contestants Need To Sustain The Season

There are gimmicks in all iterations of reality TV. While some series rely on star power to bring in their audiences, others rely on twists and turns in the season. Whether it’s reality TV competition series, observational shows, or reality TV dating series, the gimmicks and shock-value moments are almost always teased out to be larger than they actually are. With millions watching, shows like The Bachelor believe they need to make waves in order keep an audience watching their every move.

While The Golden Bachelor was a gimmick of its own, one of the more interesting things about the spin-off was that it was a show that didn’t have much room for extra fluff. Gerry and his contestants were meant to sustain the series with their relationships, and they were able to do so without too much outside noise. The Bachelorette season 21 needs to continue that trend, following the authentic relationships built between the contestants and the lead.

6

The Bachelorette Can Still Be Genuinely Funny

Bachelor Nation Could Use Some Humor

For years, the tone of reality TV dating shows was light-hearted and funny, though serious in moments where feelings were involved. The Bachelor and The Bachelorette followed suit, though they did tend to veer more toward the serious side while Bachelor In Paradise was built for humor. Though the original series wasn’t always meant to be funny, the shows leaned into their sense of humor as the contestants built genuine relationships with lead, creating more three-dimensional characters for the audience to root for.

While the show still has a sense of humor from time to time, in recent years the series has focused far more on serious issues between the contestants and the lead, as well as the drama forming in the relationships between contestants themselves. With such a major focus on drama, a lot of the humor in the series tends to get lost. The Bachelorette season 21 could absolutely leverage Jenn’s sense of humor to create a lighter show overall for the audience.

5

The Bachelorette Isn’t Relying On Cast Drama

Romantic Connections Are More Than Drama

The drama between cast members throughout the Bachelor franchise has been an issue in recent years and has been part of the series throughout its run. While there is always drama that winds up happening between contestants that can cause issues in the relationships the lead is forming, the franchise has reached a point where the drama is sometimes more entertaining than the actual connections the lead is building. The Bachelor franchise has even gotten to a point where they tend to cast villain archetypes, something that likely shouldn’t be a focus for a reality TV dating show.

With so much focus on the type of contestants being cast, there tends to be less to say about the connections being built on the show. Sometimes, the finalists on The Bachelor are barely even known prior to the end stretch of the season because the editing was focused too much on the drama occurring. In the upcoming season of The Bachelorette, the series would be smart to focus more on the connections between lead and the contestants, finding their stories in the romance rather than the drama.

4

The Bachelorette Has Care For Its Cast

The Contestants & Lead Are More Important Than Shock Value

While the franchise has worked hard to find new contestants who will be compelling for viewers, it seems at times that the leads and contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are there for little more than providing a shocking story. For some of the cast members involved in the franchise, their backstory is what brought them to the reality TV spotlight. Whether there was a tragedy in their past or heartbreak they’ll be able to prevail through on the series, the contestants are pushed to share something with shock value in order to anchor themselves on the show.

As the franchise chooses who they’ll feature more heavily, who they’d like to focus on or cast in future shows, and what their angles are, it’s become increasingly more clear that the more distinct and overwhelming your backstory is, the more likely you’ll have a chance to continue forward. Rather than focusing on the cast and their current journeys, the production is more focused on the past. In showing care and concern for their cast, The Bachelorette season 21’s production team could flip the script and change the franchise entirely.

3

The Bachelorette Knows How To Let The Lead Take Charge

Bachelor Nation Doesn’t Want Villains Kept Around For Plot

In the past, the franchise has been somewhat different when it comes to the way the leads of each show work through their pool of contestants. On The Bachelor, it appears that the lead has a little less control over which women stay and which women go in the beginning of the season. While they always have the ability to eliminate contestants, it appears the Bachelor takes a bit more direction from producers, while the Bachelorette is able to freely get rid of whoever they want from episode to episode.

In trusting the lead, the production team would be able to let go of the narrative they’ve potentially built surrounding the season a bit more. Allowing the events to unfold freely would be a benefit for the next season of the series, and could help to change the way things work in the franchise. In giving the lead more control to get rid of people who are cast for shock value, The Bachelorette could shake up the people who are featured on the series.

2

The Bachelorette Doesn’t Rely On Editing Tricks

Viewers Want To See The Events As They Happen, Not A Narrative

While all reality TV shows require editing to make sense of what’s happening and create a narrative that viewers can comfortably follow, the amount of editing seen on the Bachelor franchise is uncanny. With the series requiring a staggering amount of editing already, the editors who work on the Bachelor franchise put in far more work than the standard. In creating storylines that are sometimes manufactured entirely, the editors can tweak almost any narrative and make the show into something it’s not.

Though there is editing that has to be done to make the show function, the editing tricks thrown into The Bachelor and its spin-offs can be jarring. For example, during one of the final episodes of The Bachelor season 28, the order in which Joey Graziadei’s roses were given out was changed to make his final choice, Kelsey Anderson, look like more of an underdog. If the editing on the series could be scaled back to allow audiences to see the real story of the season, they may be more receptive.

1

The Bachelorette Can Still Hold An Audience

Authenticity From The Cast Will Keep Bachelor Nation Watching

One of the major strong points of The Golden Bachelor was the fact that it felt more authentic than other seasons of the series have in the past. While there has always been some genuine authenticity to the show, in recent seasons it has become more manufactured and felt off in ways. The Golden Bachelor, despite having its Bachelor Nation charm, was one of the first iterations of the series to feel genuine in years, and audiences took notice of the shift.

Although there have been some tough moments that are difficult for viewers to watch, the franchise has always done better allowing their contestants and leads to be genuine rather than fake. In allowing genuine emotion, conflict, and resolution to shine through, the series becomes more palatable for audiences. Moving forward, The Bachelorette should allow that authenticity to shine through, because genuine behavior from the cast will keep viewers watching all season.