ABC Exec Defends Young Cast of ‘The Bachelor’ After Talking About Aging up Contestants
This season of The Bachelor was full of controversies that led to backlash. One thing that caught the attention of Bachelor Nation was how young many of the contestants were compared to Peter Weber.
An executive previously talked about possibly aging up the cast. Find out what he had to say about the age of this season’s contestants now.
‘The Bachelor’ fans weren’t happy about the age of contestants
Weber’s season was full of drama. There were multiple feuds and villains that took the focus away from finding love. Fans started wondering if this was a sign that the producers cast too many young contestants.
The pilot is 28 years old and the finalists Madison Prewett and Hannah Ann Sluss are 23 years old. The youngest contestant this season was Mykenna at 22 years old.
Rob Mills previously talked about possibly aging up the cast
The executive was asked to respond to the backlash over casting. He talked about the process of reviewing the season.
“I don’t think you ever say you’d do anything differently, but I think it’s that we need to look at things going forward,” Robert Mills, ABC’s Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming talked to Entertainment Tonight. “You see a lot of people talking about the age of contestants, I think that’s something we’d probably look at and say, ‘Does it need to be aged up? Are these girls ready?’”
He continued, “This is a show about hopefully finding a life mate, and that has happened on this show. I think just making sure everybody’s ready, and you can’t ignore the fact that, not even for the right reasons anymore, but are you there to be an influencer? Are you there for Peter? Looking at all that.”
He defended the age of the cast this season
Mills was asked again about his thoughts on the age of the cast this season. He acknowledged that people are waiting longer before walking down the aisle.
“I think the world has changed and people are waiting more. We’re all living longer now, so people are waiting more, so I think that’s important to take into consideration,” he told Variety. However, the executive also defended the young finalists.
“But certainly, you look at Hannah Brown last season who was 24, and she was poised, confident and ready,” he continued. “And these girls were, too. Look at Hannah Ann in the end through the breakup — that was a woman who knows herself and knows what she wanted. Look, someone like Clare [Crawley] is certainly deserving of love, but so is someone who’s younger.”
The franchise is taking a turn with Crawley starring in the next season of The Bachelorette. She is 38 years old. However, the men cast for her season are mostly under 30 years old. Fans are already negatively reacting to this.
There are some fans who are more optimistic about Crawley’s handling of the age differences.
We will have to wait and see how this will play out. It sounds like the executive is ruling out possible contestants when it comes to age.
