Why Bachelor Superfan Amy Kaufman Is Breaking Up With the Franchise
Colton Underwood
As we approach the midway point of the most dramatic season of iconic reality TV show The Bachelor, this time featuring former football star and well-documented virgin Colton Underwood, the show has lost its luster for one of thefranchise's biggest fans.
Amy Kaufman, author of the New York Times best-seller
Related: Amy Kaufman Reveals Why We Love Happily Ever Afters
Kaufman dug deep into the behind-the-scenes dirt we've all been wondering about for Bachelor Nation, and not everything she found was squeaky clean. And now, with the book's paperback release, Kaufman returns with even more insider info on how it all goes down—and she doesn't exactly like what she sees.
Read on for an excerpt from Kaufman's open letter to the franchise, as seen in Bachelor Nation.
Dear Bachelor franchise:
Since the advent of social media fame, your fans have had to worry about whether the contestants on this franchise are “here for the right reasons.” I don’t want to also worry about whether someone has a hidden criminal past.
In the age of #MeToo, you have to put more effort into vetting contestants. I understand this can be difficult. In fact, I may have been duped myself. During Becca’s season, my friends and I invited one of her suitors, Leo Dottavio, over to my house to watch an episode with us. Leo was handsome and dishy, one of the best guests we’d ever had. He shared behind-the-scenes dirt and happily posed for a group photo with us, which others—we’re looking at you, Grocery Store Joe—had declined to do.
https://parade.com/722687/paulettecohn/photos-meet-the-30-bachelorettes-vying-for-the-heart-of-colton-underwood-on-the-bachelor/
And just one day after Leo was sitting next to me on my couch, he was publicly accused of sexual harassment. Bekah Martinez, a contestant from Arie’s season, posted a series of messages she’d received on Instagram from women who claimed Leo had sent them unwanted photos of his genitalia and had made unwanted sexual advances. He denied the allegations.
I was mad at myself, but I was also mad at you. I was mad that you made the Bachelorette—and by proxy, me—believe that these were guys who were safe to hang out with and crush on. I get that you can never know the full extent of someone’s background, but I know how much effort you put into thinking about how hot someone will look on TV or how much drama they’ll cause. Why can’t you put that much effort into investigating their moral character?
I suppose your casting of Colton Underwood as the Bachelor is supposed to serve as some sort of about-face. Because, on the surface, Colton is a really “moral” guy. As we learned on Becca’s season, he’s a virgin, and not for religious reasons, but because it’s his personal conviction, and he’s stuck to it up until age twenty-six. You had luck with Sean, another clean-cut virgin—though even he noted he was a “born-again virgin”—and you probably think you can rebottle some of that magic with Colton.
I’m not so sure. I’m already dreading how much emphasis you’re inevitably going to put on his virginity and how he’ll handle sex in the Fantasy Suites. It’s a tired trope. So much of what you’ve been doing lately feels tired, and Bachelor Nation is noticing. Arie’s finale brought in an average of 7.8 million viewers, down from Nick’s 8.2 million a year prior. Becca fared even worse, ending with 6.7 million viewers in August 2018, while Rachel Lindsay brought in 7.5 million the summer prior.
Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is this: Lately, I’ve had more bad times with you than good. The balance has somehow shift ed. I’m tired of defending you, pointing to what once was, citing your potential. The empty promises have become too much. Yes, you cast Rachel as a Bachelorette, but there’s been seemingly no consideration of a person of color as a lead since. Every woman on the show still conforms to “traditional” beauty norms: tiny, trim, and perky. I mean, my friends barely want to come over to hang out with us on Mondays anymore because they leave feeling so disappointed.
I want to believe we can get back to that old place. Maybe if you could commit to therapy, I’d feel better, if I knew you were putting in the time to work on yourself. But you’re a grown-up now—sixteen years old—and I fear you’re set in your ways. I love you. I always will. But I think we need to spend some time apart, OK?
Love,
Amy
Reprinted from Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure by Amy Kaufman published in paperback on February 5, 2019 by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2019 by Amy Kaufman.
