The Bachelorette
The Bachelorette is an American reality television dating game show that debuted on ABC on January 8, 2003. The show is a spin-off of The Bachelor, which airs on the same network. The first season featured Trista Rehn, the runner-up from the first season of The Bachelor, offering the opportunity for Rehn to choose a husband among 25 bachelors. The 2004 season of The Bachelorette again took a runner-up from the previous season of The Bachelor. After last airing on February 28, 2005, the series returned to ABC during the spring of 2008, following an absence of three years.
On August 5, 2019, the series was renewed for a sixteenth season.
Plot
All of the rules are adapted from the rules of The Bachelor—For the final selection, one of two male suitors proposes to the bachelorette. Unlike its parent show, all fifteen seasons of The Bachelorette have ended with a proposal which the bachelorette either accepted or declined. Trista Rehn's marriage to Ryan Sutter, Ashley Hebert's marriage to JP Rosenbaum, Desiree Hartsock's marriage to Chris Siegfried, and Rachel Lindsay’s marriage to Bryan Abasolo have been the only marriages to result. The weddings of the first two were broadcast on ABC.
Casting
Season 11 was the first season to feature a twist in casting. Since producers could not decide between The Bachelor Season 19 contenders Kaitlyn Bristowe and Britt Nilsson, the 25 men participating had to decide which bachelorette would make the best wife. In the end, more men voted for Kaitlyn and Britt was sent home on the first night.Season 13 was the first season to have an African-American contestant, Rachel Lindsay, as the lead in the entire Bachelor franchise.
Questions of authenticity
Family Guy parodied the show's authenticity in the episode "Brian the Bachelor" on June 26, 2005.The Bachelorette 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 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 believed 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 speaking out.
In 2018, Amy Kaufman published a book titled, 'Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure'. This book provided insight on some of the manipulation tactics that producers employ in order to boost drama and ratings.
Setting
Much like the parent show, the first two seasons were filmed in a luxurious 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. In season 3, filming was located 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 seasons 4 and 5 lived in a bunkhouse close to the mansion. The sixteenth season is set to film entirely within the United States, due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.Seasons
| # | Original run | Bachelorette | Winner | Runner-up | Proposal | Still together | Relationship notes |
| 1 | January 8–February 19, 2003 | Trista Rehn | Ryan Sutter | Charlie Maher | Rehn and Sutter were married on December 6, 2003 on national television. They have two children, son Maxwell Alston "Max" and daughter Blakesley Grace. | ||
| 2 | January 14–February 26, 2004 | Meredith Phillips | Ian Mckee | Matthew Hickl | Phillips and McKee were engaged at the end of the show but ended their relationship in February 2005. | ||
| 3 | January 10–February 28, 2005 | Jen Schefft | Jerry Ferris | John Paul Merritt | During the first live final rose ceremony, Schefft chose Ferris over Meritt. Ferris proposed to Schefft, but she rejected his proposal. | ||
| 4 | May 19–July 7, 2008 | DeAnna Pappas | Jesse Csincsak | Jason Mesnick | Pappas chose Csincsak, and their wedding was set for May 9, 2009, but they broke up in November 2008. | ||
| 5 | May 18–July 28, 2009 | Jillian Harris | Ed Swiderski | Kiptyn Locke | Harris, the first Canadian bachelorette, chose Ed Swiderski in the finale, but in July 2010, it was announced that Harris and Swiderski had broken up. | ||
| 6 | May 24–August 2, 2010 | Ali Fedotowsky | Roberto Martinez | Chris Lambton | Fedotowsky and Martinez got engaged in the season finale, but the couple broke up in November 2011. | ||
| 7 | May 23–August 1, 2011 | Ashley Hebert | J.P. Rosenbaum | Ben Flajnik | Hebert and Rosenbaum married on December 1, 2012, and their wedding aired as a TV special on December 16 of that year. The couple have two children, son Fordham Rhys and daughter Essex Reese. | ||
| 8 | May 14–July 23, 2012 | Emily Maynard | Jef Holm | Arie Luyendyk Jr. | Maynard and Holm ended their relationship in October 2012. | ||
| 9 | May 27–August 5, 2013 | Desiree Hartsock | Chris Siegfried | Drew Kenney | Hartsock and Siegfried were married on January 18, 2015 and currently live in Portland, Oregon. They have two children together, sons Asher Wrigley and Zander Cruz. | ||
| 10 | May 19–July 28, 2014 | Andi Dorfman | Josh Murray | Nick Viall | Murray proposed to Dorfman in the season finale. However, the two announced their breakup on January 8, 2015. | ||
| 11 | May 18–July 27, 2015 | Kaitlyn Bristowe | Shawn Booth | Nick Viall | Bristowe and her fellow The Bachelor season 19 contestant Britt Nilsson were selected as candidates. In the second episode, the men chose Bristowe to be the Bachelorette. Bristowe then picked Shawn Booth in the finale. The couple officially ended their relationship in September 2018, but it wasn't made public until November of that year. | ||
| 12 | May 23–August 1, 2016 | JoJo Fletcher | Jordan Rodgers | Robby Hayes | Rodgers proposed to Fletcher in the finale, and the two are still engaged as of . The two star in a series called Cash Pad on CNBC, where they flip houses. Rodgers re-proposed to Fletcher on August 25, 2019. Fletcher announced on June 13, 2020, via an Instagram post, that today was supposed to be her wedding day to Rodgers. However, it was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | ||
| 13 | May 22–August 7, 2017 | Rachel Lindsay | Bryan Abasolo | Peter Kraus | Lindsay and Abasolo were married on August 24, 2019. They currently live in Miami, Florida. | ||
| 14 | May 28–August 6, 2018 | Becca Kufrin | Garrett Yrigoyen | Blake Horstmann | Kufrin and Yrigoyen are still engaged as of . | ||
| 15 | May 13–July 30, 2019 | Hannah Brown | Jed Wyatt | Tyler Cameron | On the season’s finale, it was revealed that Brown and Wyatt broke up in June 2019 after Brown discovered that Wyatt had a girlfriend at the time of filming. Wyatt also admitted that he went on the show to promote his music career. After the show, she reached out to Tyler Cameron and went on a date, although the relationship did not progress. | ||
| 16 | Fall 2020 | Clare Crawley |