After being slammed for a lack of diversity in casting, 10 has come out in defence of the upcoming season of The Bachelors.
The announcement of the three leading men was met with criticism online, given Felix Von Hofe, Thomas Malucelli, and Jed McIntosh were all Anglo and believed to be straight, too.
“Diversity looks at many things, and even to cast the way that it’s been cast, those guys don’t necessarily all print like your typical Bachelor of years gone by,” said Beverley McGarvey, the Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer at Paramount Australia and New Zealand.
“There’s a whole significant portion of that cast still to come, which will make people probably slightly rethink their position,” she added.
“It’s about cast and crew in representation and we do feel that it matters, and we’ve demonstrated that clearly with all of our casting choices.”
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Filming of the show is now taking place in Queensland, with the announcement of the leading men coinciding with the beginning of production.
It was rumoured there would be more than one Bachelor this year, with 10 eventually confirming the news on news panel show The Project.
However, the backlash was swift, even coming from former members of the franchise.
“Why is there not one person of colour? I’m hoping at least one of them is bisexual,” season seven runner-up Abbie Chatfield said on her radio show, Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield.
“I love The Bachelor and I love all the crew and everyone on there [but] the ratings have been going down and down and down and I just don’t know, I hope [the new format] does save it,” she commented.
“There could be drama between the Bachelors fighting over some of the girls. But is having three [men] going to change anything?”
10 seem to be sticking to their guns when it comes to the show’s updated format.
“This year, we were trying to do something different with Bachelor, even just in terms of the age range, which allows us to cast different types of women as well,” Beverley said.
“We’re just going to stay quiet on that and then once people see the entire cast, then they will see that the entire cast is very representative of the Australian population.
“No matter what you do, you definitely get feedback!”
We’ll be reserving judgment for the time being and look forward to meeting the rest of the cast.
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