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The Bachelorette is a spin-off from the American competitive reality dating game show The Bachelor. In its January 2003 debut on ABC, Trista Rehn, the runner-up from the first season of The Bachelor, was granted the opportunity to choose a husband among 25 suitors. The show ran for two more seasons before taking a 3-year hiatus, returning to screens again in 2008. It is currently hosted by Jesse Palmer.

Plot[]

All of the rules are adapted from the rules of its parent show, The Bachelor. As the name implies, it is essentially a gender-swapped version of The Bachelor: the series revolves around a single bachelorette, usually a former contestant from a recent Bachelor season, and a pool of romantic interests (typically 25, though sometimes more) which could include a potential husband for the bachelorette. The show starts with the bachelorette standing in front of the mansion and greeting each male contestant individually, as they make an entrance to the bachelorette. After each rose ceremony, at least one contestant does not receive a rose and goes home; therefore, the pool of contenders gets smaller, and eventually leaves the bachelorette to decide between two contestants in the final rose ceremony.

For the final selection, one of two male suitors proposes to the bachelorette. Unlike its parent show, all sixteen seasons of The Bachelorette have ended with a proposal which the bachelorette either accepted or declined. The series has resulted in five marriages to date: Trista Rehn's to Ryan Sutter, Ashley Hebert's to JP Rosenbaum, Desiree Hartsock's to Chris Siegfried, Rachel Lindsay’s to Bryan Abasolo, and Joelle "JoJo" Fletcher's to Jordan Rodgers. The first two weddings were broadcast on ABC. Season 16 was the only season did not hold an After the Final Rose special due to circumstances over the COVID-19 pandemic and Christmas holiday.

Questions of authenticity[]

Season 4 winner Jesse Csincsak commented that contestants must follow producers' orders and that a storyline was fabricated in the editing room.

On March 15, 2010, The Bachelorette creator Mike Fleiss appeared on 20/20 to confess that he developed the show's contestants into characters that catered to his audience's tastes, and that they "need [their] fair share of villains every season." Fleiss has come under fire for admitting that The Bachelor has less to do with reality than it does making good television.

By season 7 of The Bachelorette, some believe that actors were being hired by ABC to play specific roles on the show. Some viewers were becoming tired of the show's scripted nature and started speaking out. By season 8, there were numerous complaints when the entire cast of The Bachelorette overtly acted out the show's written script with the cast of The Muppets.

Setting[]

Much like the parent show, the first two seasons were filmed in a secluded house in Los Angeles County, California, and "Villa De La Vina," in Agoura Hills, California for later seasons. Since the fifth season, the third and remaining episodes filmed around the world. Episodes have been filmed throughout the United States, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Turkey, Portugal, Thailand, China, Bermuda, England, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and Ireland. The California estate was not used during some seasons including season 3 that was filmed in New York City; Charlotte, North Carolina for season 8, where Emily Maynard lived so that she could stay with her daughter Ricki during production. In addition to Villa De La Vina mansion, the contestants in season 4 lived in a bunkhouse close to the mansion.

Seasons[]

Season Original run Bachelorette Winner Runner-up Proposal Still together
1 January 8 – February 19, 2003 Trista Rehn Ryan Sutter Charlie Maher Yes Yes
2 January 14 – February 26, 2004 Meredith Phillips Ian McKee Matthew Hickl Yes No
3 January 10 – February 28, 2005 Jennifer Schefft Jerry Ferris John Merritt Yes[1] No
4 May 19 – July 7, 2008 DeAnna Pappas Jesse Csincsak Jason Mesnick Yes No
5 May 18 – July 28, 2009 Jillian Harris Ed Swiderski Kiptyn Locke Yes No
6 May 24 – August 2, 2010 Ali Fedotowsky Roberto Martinez Chris Lambton Yes No
7 May 23 – August 1, 2011 Ashley Hebert J.P. Rosenbaum Ben Flajnik Yes No
8 May 14 – July 23, 2012 Emily Maynard Jef Holm Arie Luyendyk Jr. Yes No
9 May 27 – August 5, 2013 Desiree Hartsock Chris Siegfried Drew Kenney Yes Yes
10 May 19 – July 28, 2014 Andi Dorfman Josh Murray Nick Viall Yes No
11 May 18 – July 27, 2015 Kaitlyn Bristowe Shawn Booth Nick Viall Yes No
12 May 23 – August 1, 2016 Joelle "JoJo" Fletcher Jordan Rodgers Robby Hayes Yes Yes
13 May 22 – August 7, 2017 Rachel Lindsay Bryan Abasolo Peter Kraus Yes No
14 May 28 – August 6, 2018 Becca Kufrin Garrett Yrigoyen Blake Horstmann Yes No
15 May 13 – July 30, 2019 Hannah Brown Jed Wyatt Tyler Cameron Yes No
16 October 13 – December 22, 2020 Clare Crawley Dale Moss None Yes No
Tayshia Adams Zac Clark Ben Smith
17 June 7 – August 9, 2021 Katie Thurston Blake Moynes Justin Glaze Yes No
18 October 19 – December 21, 2021 Michelle Young Nayte Olukoya Brandon Jones Yes No
19 July 11 - September 20, 2022 Rachel Recchia Tino Franco Aven Jones Yes No
Gabby Windey Erich Schwer Jason Alabaster Yes No
20 June 26 – August 21, 2023 Charity Lawson Dotun Olubeko Joey Graziadei Yes Yes
Notes
  1. While Ferris proposed to Schefft, she did not accept. She agreed to date Ferris but not to marry him.

Final Couples[]

International versions[]

The Bachelorette is popular all around the world. Here are the countries that have made their own adaptations of the show.

Country Name Network Original premiere date
23px-Flag of Romania.svg
Romania Burlăcița Antena 1 July 1, 2011
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India The Bachelorette India Life OK October 23, 2013
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Germany Die Bachelorette RTL November 24, 2004
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Switzerland Die Bachelorette 3+ April 27, 2015
23px-Flag of Australia.svg
Australia The Bachelorette Australia Network Ten September 23, 2015
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