Being the lead of a popular series like The Bachelor isn’t ever easy, but being the first Black lead comes with its own slew of specific struggles. Since Rachel Lindsay made history as the ABC’s first Black Bachelorette in 2017, the reality star has dealt with a lot. But after everything she’s been through, being part of Bachelor Nation just isn’t worth the trouble anymore, so it sounds like she’s finally decided to walk away from the franchise that put her on the map.
When Rachel first was announced as the Bachelorette after being a fan favorite on Nick Viall’s season, it was a big deal; in all of its years on television at that point, The Bachelor had never cast anyone other than a white contestant to lead the show. Rachel’s time in the spotlight was eventful for many reasons, giving us one of the show’s most heartbreaking splits in addition to a host of new Bachelor Nation most beloved members. But it was also very difficult in that the show wasn’t exactly sure how to produce a Black woman’s love story. As the Bachelorette, Rachel claims that she was edited like an “angry Black woman” while dealing with unique circumstances (read: literal racists) that other leads never had to face.
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Post-Bachelorette, Rachel began vocally advocating for the show to take its diversity measures a step further by casting more people of color all around. Even when this season’s controversy about frontrunner Rachael Kirkconnell surfaced, Rachel went toe-to-toe with franchise godfather Chris Harrison on national television. The result of being The Bachelor's self-appointed voice of reason for years? Burnout.
Rachel has been hosting the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast with fellow former Bachelorette Becca Kufrin. But after everything that's happened as of late, she's decided not to renew her contract on the show. In fact, we might not hear Rachel talking about the popular dating series again for a very long time.
During an appearance on the Bachelor Party podcast, Rachel hinted to host Juliet Litman that her future relationship with the franchise is on the rocks because of her decision not to continue on Bachelor Happy Hour for another season. When asked if she would at least come back to Bachelor Party, Rachel's answer was quite clear.
"Well, now that I’ve announced that I will not be renewing my contract for Bachelor Happy Hour. I think we gotta know where things are going here," she admitted frankly.
Reading between the lines, it looks like the likelihood of another Bachelor podcast appearance are very, very slim. And while Bachelor Nation might be in their feelings about it, it might be time for the fan favorite lead to move on from this particularly stressful pop culture universe. With everything that's gone on during Matt James' season and beyond, the toxicity of The Bachelor has come to the forefront. Now is Rachel's chance to make a clean getaway, and she couldn't be more relieved at the timing.
"I’m looking forward to — sorry, Bachelor Nation — but no Bachelor on TV for a couple of months," she said on the podcast.
And honestly? Same.