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
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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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Romania | Burlăcița | Antena 1 | July 1, 2011 | |
India | The Bachelorette India | Life OK | October 23, 2013 | |
Germany | Die Bachelorette | RTL | November 24, 2004 | |
Switzerland | Die Bachelorette | 3+ | April 27, 2015 | |
Australia | The Bachelorette Australia | Network Ten | September 23, 2015 |