ABC Names Second Black ‘Bachelor’ for Season 29
The Bachelor has revealed its next lead.
Grant Ellis, 30, a former contestant from the current season of The Bachelorette, has been picked to hand out roses for the 29th season of ABC’s hit reality dating series.
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The news comes Monday night at the end of the latest Bachelorette episode with star Jenn Tran, whose season is averaging 2.38 million same-day viewers, up about 15 percent from the same time last year.
Ellis was eliminated in the sixth week of Tran’s journey. Now the former pro basketball player and day trader from New Jersey is “eager to embark on a journey filled with romance, adventure and genuine connections. He hopes to find a partner who shares his values of loyalty, humor and a deep appreciation for life’s simple pleasures,” per ABC’s release.
Ellis’ casting marks another diverse lead in the long-running reality series. The producers behind the hit franchise recently addressed the show’s diversity issues, which came to a head during the 25th season that starred the first-ever Black Bachelor, Matt James, and aired in 2021. Following Rachel Lindsay as the franchise’s first Black lead with her 2017 season of The Bachelorette, Michelle Young, in 2021, and Charity Lawson, last year, have brought more inclusivity to the female-led franchise. Tran is currently starring as the franchise’s first Asian American lead.
“It’s taken a lot of work to get back to a place where we feel at least we’re working for the positive,” franchise executive producer Bennett Graebner told the Los Angeles Times.
The Bachelor will return in 2025 on ABC and Hulu. A premiere date has yet to be announced.
The next series in the Bachelor franchise will be the Golden Bachelorette, which stars Joan Vassos, 61, looking for love starting on Sept. 18. Vassos leads the first-ever senior spinoff with a Bachelorette at the helm, following the inaugural Golden Bachelor season with Gerry Turner, which marked a ratings boon for the long-running Warner Horizon-produced franchise. Vassos’ time on the Golden Bachelor was cut short; she eliminated herself during week three over a medical concern with her daughter.
A recent promo showed Vassos, whose husband died from pancreatic cancer after 32 years of marriage, spending time with her loved ones before setting out to film her season. “I’m very picky about a man being a gentleman,” she told her family. “Somebody with a big heart, somebody who is generous, and also somebody who is humble.”
Her 24 contestants, meanwhile, were revealed on Tuesday. (See their photos and bios.)
Summer spinoff series Bachelor in Paradise will also return for its 10th season in 2025.
The Bachelor is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon. Claire Freeland, Bennett Graebner, Tim Warner and Peter Gust are executive producers.
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