CaptionPeter Weber’s Bachelor finale left millions shaking their heads—at him and his meddling mom. But the franchise doesn’t have to keep going down this cringey, drama-filled road, says one septuagenarian fan: My mother, a 70-year-old former hippie, model and painter who lives in Boise, Idaho. After going to see “The Bachelor — Live on Stage,” a live touring game show event hosted by former Bachelorette Becca Kufrin and ex-Bachelor Ben Higgins, my mother has some insights to share with the The Bachelor producers and fans. Listen up, Bachelor Nation, my mom’s got something to say.Getty ImagesMy mom wasn’t psyched when Peter Weber was picked as 2020’s Bachelor lead. He seemed sweet enough, she said, but so...vanilla. Like many other fans, she had been rooting for the smiling, smoldering Mike Johnson from Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette. After seeing The Bachelor — Live on Stage, she feels even more strongly that TV show should choose more diverse stars. (There has only been one lead of color in the show’s entire history, Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay.)
For the live stage show, producers cast a local “Bachelor” and introduce him to several local “Bachelorettes” in a gameshow format. One thing my mom noticed about the cast at the Boise performance was how white they all were. Save for a single, solitary Asian woman, the entire cast was Caucasian. C’mon, it’s 2020 and within a couple generations fully half the country will be people of color. It’s time for The Bachelor to get with the program.