‘The Bachelor’: Everything We Know About Season 25 With Matt James
The 25th season of ABC’s The Bachelor will make (long overdue) history with its first Black male lead, Matt James. The big announcement was made on June 12, 2020 on Good Morning America after years of fans calling for more diversity in the franchise, and a more recent campaign amid protests across America for racial justice.
When asked if it was “too little, too late,” James said, “I don’t think it’s ever the wrong time to do the right thing. We can’t have change until we put that first foot forward.” (He had previously been cast as one of the suitors for The Bachelorette with Clare Crawley.)
“Certainly no one is blind to what is happening in the world, so hopefully this announcement serves as a bit of optimism during a time that we can really use this, but I don’t want this to look like we’re patting ourselves on the back or taking a victory lap,” ABC executive Rob Mills told Variety. “We know this is a few grains of sand in a very big hourglass. It’s taken a while to get where we are, and we will continue to go further, and I acknowledge it may not be enough. In the last few years, I believe it’s gotten better, and with the announcement of [Matt James], I hope it keeps getting better. We are very excited about Matt.”
Here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming season of The Bachelor.
The premiere date: ABC confirmed in November that the premiere of James’s season of The Bachelor is January 4, 2020.
The suitors: ABC released photos of the 43 women competing for James’s heart on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. See all the pics here. It appears we may have a Kelley Flanagan situation on our hands. According to Reality Steve, one of the contestants, Madison, “was dating Matt last summer when Tyler [Cameron] was seeing GiGi [Hadid].”
What he’s looking for: It sounds as though James (and his mom) have high hopes for a happy ending. “I think the grandkid counter for my mom started when the announcement was made,” he said to People. “She wants a basketball team. I’ll have a minivan, as many as we can fit.”
