#Gay dating shows like the bachelor how to
If they aren’t - sorry, but isn’t drama what this show is about? But if they’re there for the right reasons, it shouldn’t matter. Is there a risk that the suitors fall for each other? Sure! That’s happened on the straight Bachelor. How would a gay Bachelor work? You cast a gay Bachelor. Bachelor in Paradise still asks women to pair up with men, when, with thoughtful casting, there’s no reason Demi couldn’t have given a rose to a receptive woman. The Bachelor can dabble in inclusion - modeling how audiences should respond to Demi’s bisexuality - but it’s not yet woven inclusion into the fabric of its shows.
#Gay dating shows like the bachelor Offline
This is the audience that lives offline and gives The Bachelor its bananas ratings, the audience that allows the show to sell enough ads to justify two-hour episodes. And this isn’t, necessarily, the Bachelor Nation you see live-tweeting or filling Reddit with fan theories, many of those fans themselves represent the spectrum of sexuality. The enthusiasm toward her ultimatum, the Team Madison trending hashtag and the 1.6 million followers she gained indicate that she - a straight white cis woman who was described dozens of times as “pure” - is The Bachelor audience’s ideal woman. Still, Madison’s popularity on Peter’s season underscored how conservative The Bachelor ‘s core audience is. Leads frequently choose to date instead of propose at the end of the show, and while BIP rewards couples, Neil Lane is not on hand. With Bachelor in Paradise in particular, the franchise has moved away from its preoccupation with engagement and marriage as endgame. The answer might be found in the Instagram followers of The Bachelor‘s season 24 “winner.” The last few years, The Bachelor has gradually cultivated a more modern image. Why, then, has the most dominant dating show franchise in history, a franchise clearly interested in spinoffs and airwaves domination, not pursued a queer series?
They simply shrunk the cast size to address the exponentially higher number of possible outcomes when everyone is an option for everyone. (This is true of all representation.)īut what’s most striking about Are You the One? season 8 was how easy it was to adapt a premise designed around heterosexuality to be more inclusive. No one seriously stresses over The Bachelor reflecting poorly on heterosexuality and the more inclusive dating shows we have the less pressure there will be on each one. There’s an argument to be made that this, too, is essential representation.
The AYTO season 8 cast weren’t exactly good role models, but then who is looking for role models on reality TV? They’re bombastic, hot messes and they’re almost certainly here for a good time, not a long time vis-a-vis relationships. A cookie for giving fans a queer cast for one season of one show. Now, to a certain extent, this is credit for the bare minimum. To be clear, it was an utterly sloppy trainwreck, just like every AYTO season, but it also resonated with a community who long wanted representation in the sloppy trainwreck genre. The season 8 “twist” was similarly simple: Everyone on the island identified as sexually fluid, meaning everyone was a potential match for everyone else.Īre You the One‘s queer season was a success, the must-watch show of late summer with viewing parties popping up at queer nightlife spots. In the summer of 2019, MTV aired the “Come One, Come All” season of Are You the One? The premise of the show was the same as the previous seven seasons: A collection of singles who are “bad at love” live on an island and try to determine, through competitions, light ceremonies and copious amounts of alcohol, whom MTV has identified as their “perfect match.” If everyone finds their perfect match by the end of 10 weeks, the house splits a cash prize.
Madison’s 1.6 million followers underscore why The Bachelor never will. By Shea Corrigan 2 years ago Follow TweetĪre You the One? showed how easy it is to make an inclusive dating show.