The Bachelors 2022: Abbie Chatfield slams show’s lack of diversity

Ten has decided to overhaul The Bachelor this season, but fans - including Abbie Chatfield - have pointed out a glaring issue.

It’s been described as a “world first” – but Ten’s huge Bachelor announcement hasn’t exactly whipped viewers into a frenzy of excitement, with many taking to social media to slam the lack of diversity in the new casting.

It was revealed on The Project on Monday night that this year’s edition of the dating reality show will feature three bachelors vying to find their soulmate.

Professional basketballer Felix Von Hofe, life coach Thomas Malucelli and drummer Jed McIntosh will all be looking for love on the new series, which is being filmed on the Gold Coast.

Three new bachelors — Felix Von Hofe (from left), Jed McIntosh and Thomas Malucelli — have been announced for 2022.

“We are so excited. We’re doing a world first. No one in the world has ever had three bachelors, and so therefore the way it works, the way everyone gets to know each other is very different this year,” Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg told The Project panel.

“It has already been fascinating. We have been going for a while now and it is already just electrifying what we are seeing. Not only do we go to head office to say can we have three bachelors, we want to do it without candles and without fairy lights, that is a meeting we had to get through.”

But the radical new format has hardly been greeted by a wave of enthusiasm.

Leading the pack of unimpressed voices was radio host and former Bachelor contestant, Abbie Chatfield, who pointed out the lack of diversity.

“My question is: Why is there not one person of colour? I’m hoping at least one of (the bachelors) is bisexual, I don’t know. Why are they all white? And why is there a 25-year-old? What’s going on here? It’s too young,” she complained during her Hit Network show, Hot Nights With Abbie, on Monday night.

Abbie pointed out the lack of diversity in the casting.

There was a very similar sentiment on Twitter:

I was just thinking the same thing. Boring as per usual 🥱

— Katie Barr (@Kt_Barr) May 23, 2022

Love the diversity.

🙃

— Simone (@Sim_oneL) May 23, 2022

+ Maybe Channel 10s definition of diversity is hair colour or age difference or surnames that aren’t the same 🤦🏼‍♂️. #TheBachelorAU

— Adriano Di Prato (@AdrianoDiPrato) May 23, 2022

Next 😏

— kaeni3 (@kaeni3) May 23, 2022

Meanwhile, on the show’s official Instagram, it was the same story.

Here’s a snapshot:

“White man. White man. White man. The diversity is next level!”

“Three white men. Groundbreaking.”

“Three bachelors and still not a man of colour? Really?”

“This is three different brands of the same flavour.”

“How could you not think people wouldn’t care that there is not one POC out of three?”

The other major takeaway from dozens of fans was the uncanny resemblance between Jed McIntosh and global star Machine Gun Kelly, who’s been dominating headlines in recent weeks thanks to his endless red carpet PDAs with fiancee Megan Fox.

“Wow, I’m so impressed they got MGK this season,” one follower wrote, with another adding: “When did they get MGK to sign up for Aussie Bach?”

Musician Jed.

His doppelganger, Machine Gun Kelly. Picture: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Viewers have been dropping off from the franchise in recent years, with the 2021 season finale airing to its lowest audience in history.

Jimmy Nicholson’s quest for love came to a close with the pilot choosing Holly Kingston over Brooke Cleal.

Just 629,000 metro viewers tuned in for the final winner reveal, down from 879,000 for the show’s seventh season in 2020.

The fall was even steeper when compared to the show’s first seven seasons, which all drew well over one million viewers for the closing minutes of their finales.

The most successful Bachelor finale was in 2015, when almost 1.5 million people tuned in to watch Sam Wood choose now-wife Snezana Wood.

Originally published as The Bachelors 2022: Abbie Chatfield slams show’s lack of diversity