Rachel Lindsay contestants met the hostess of The Bachelorette several weeks earlier than planned, surprising the 31-year-old Dallas lawyer and providing a glimpse into what kinds of dudes would compete for her hand later this spring.
On Monday night, after the series finale of the most recent edition of The Bachelor , ABC aired an after-show special, “After the Final Rose,” which both the network and the show’s producers had been touting as a “ Bachelor first ,” according to The Hollywood Reporter . During the show, host Chris Harrison and Rachel talked about her upcoming season of The Bachelorette , which is to begin in late May.
New ‘Bachelorette’ Rachel Lindsay Meets Her Guys, One’s Ready to Go Black (VIDEO) https://t.co/xYD4EBlIVr pic.twitter.com/afBSwME5nU
— Hona Radio USA (@honaradio) March 15, 2017
As Chris and Rachel talked about the upcoming season, Chris dropped a bomb on Rachel: her upcoming season of The Bachelorette was to begin, right there on the set! The set magically transformed into The Bachelor mansion, and then, a limo pulled up, featuring four of the contestants who will eventually appear on the show.
As Cosmopolitan reports, the racial makeup of the first four contestants introduced to Rachel is significant: as the first woman of color to appear on The Bachelorette , Lindsay has been open about the fact that she hopes producers will give her a wide variety of men from a wide variety of racial backgrounds . As she said in remarks via TV Buzer :
“I obviously expect to see a wider pool of African-American men just because that’s me, but what I’m excited about is I’m hoping that my cast reflects what America looks like. I don’t [exclusively] date African-American men, I’ve dated all races before, and so I’m hoping the cast reflects what America looks like and I’m excited that my season is hopefully the one that has the opportunity to do that.”
That desire for racial diversity was evident Monday night: two of the contestants to meet her were African American, the other two were white.
RT Variety “ #TheBachelorette Gets a Surprise Start on #AftertheFinalRose https://t.co/e795mKYNlG #TheBachelorFina … pic.twitter.com/fsCjaEsqNt ”
— News & Arts™ (@newslarts) March 14, 2017
So what does Monday’s surprise reveal about the contestants who will be competing to be Mr. Rachel Lindsay? Well, a couple of them were rather disappointing, truth be told.
The first fellow, according to the Daily Mail , was Dean, who made an awkward joke about the prospect of being in an interracial relationship.
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m ready to go black and I’m never gonna go back.”
The next guy, DeMario, showed up with an envelope containing a ring and a ticket to Vegas, and told Rachel that he was ready to elope with her on the spot! He was followed by Blake, a bumbling oaf who only managed to spit out that Rachel smelled good.
The last contestant, and the one who seems to show the most promise, was Eric, a suave and debonair African-American man. Calm and collected, Eric simply told Rachel that he was looking forward to spending more time with her.
If social media is any indication, Rachel’s fans aren’t impressed with the so-far-revealed crop of contestants.
“I’m ready to go black and I’m never going to go back”???? run Rach. #TheBachelor #ATFR
— Christen Whitney (@Christen_mae_) March 14, 2017
Although Pop Sugar writer Kelsie Gibson thinks Eric has some promise .
“We might be jumping the gun, but we think Rachel just found her perfect match.”
Of course, Monday’s stunt only revealed four of the upcoming The Bachelorette contestants who will be competing for Rachel Lindsay’s final rose; it may be that the right guy just hasn’t been revealed yet.
[Featured Image by kieferpix /Thinkstock]
