Jenn Tran is The Bachelorette for Season 21 when The Bachelor spinoff returns this summer.
It’s no secret that she was at least the third choice for the role after Daisy Kent and Maria Georgas stepped down.
But that doesn’t mean she isn’t the best choice and after Maria’s recent podcast appearance, that is becoming more apparent.
Not to mention, Daisy Kent already has a new man after coming in second place while trying to win over Joey Graziadei.
We’re dying to know how Jenn is doing on her journey, which has been filming since soon after The Bachelor season ended.
So far, we know that Daisy and Kelsey will be making an appearance, but beyond that, not much is known, and the spoilers have been few and far between — which is going to make Jenn’s season even more epic once it starts in July.
Reality Steve has shared two of the men headed for Hometown Dates, but the other two are still a mystery. We also know that the finale is filmed in Hawaii, which will be the perfect location for a scenic proposal, should she get one in the end.
So, while we wait for Season 21 of The Bachelorette to kick off, here are five reasons why we think Jenn Tran is going to be an amazing lead, and we can’t wait to tune in.
1. Jenn Tran is not afraid to have fun
On Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor, Jenn Tran earned herself a one-on-one date, during which the pair went surfing. Even though Jenn is afraid of the ocean, she was determined to have a great time — and she did!
Then, at The Bachelor After the Finale Rose special, when Jenn was announced as The Bachelorette lead, she talked about how she planned to have as much fun as possible and even said that she was “excited to shake her little booty off” and talked about partying it up during her season.
2. Jenn Tran avoided drama on The Bachelor
Jenn continued to make sure that her time on The Bachelor was fun, avoiding all the back-and-forth beef between other cast members.
Maria was constantly dealing with attacks from Sydney Gordon before she went home during the Malta two-on-one and then had even more trouble from Lea and Jess after the fact.
It seemed like there was no end to the feuding for Maria, who recently revealed that she was asked to be The Bachelorette but that she accepted and then later declined.
And while she was in the center of quite a bit of drama, that drama also got Maria a lot of screentime, boosted her popularity and helped to grow her social media due to all the exposure.
Maria still boasts significantly more Instagram followers than Jenn with more than 630,000, despite Jenn being named The Bachelorette lead. For comparison, Jenn has 184,000 followers prior to the start of her season, though that number will surely grow after the July premiere date.
3. Jenn Tran is the first Asian-American lead
One point that keeps being made about Jenn Tran’s role on The Bachelorette is that it’s groundbreaking.
Jenn is the first Asian American lead in Bachelor Nation history and is Vietnamese American. Jenn was born in New Jersey, but both of her parents were born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States with her older brother before she was born.
A big deal was made of the lack of diversity prior to her casting and though it’s been proven that her ethnicity did not play a role in the decision to cast her, seeing that Daisy and Maria were both asked first, it is historic.
It’s about time, too. After all, The Bachelorette has been around for 22 years now, with 24 leads (considering Kaitlynn Bristowe and Britt Nilsson competed for that season, Tayshia Adams took over for Clare Crawley, and Gabby Windey, and Rachel Recchia shared a season.)
The Bachelor producers have been repeatedly criticized for the lack of diversity on all the franchise shows, most recently by NPR TV critic Eric Deggens during the TV Critics Association’s winter press tour.
He was met with silence after asking, “Why does the show find it so difficult to handle race issues?”
When Eric was met with silence, he quipped, “I guess we have our answer.”
At The Bachelor After the Final Rose special, Rachel Nance was able to address some of the racism she experienced from viewers while she was on the show, and it seems that the franchise is starting to speak out about the hate that the cast members get as well as acknowledge that there is an issue within Bachelor Nation, not just with lack of diversity among the cast but also an alarming amount of racism from the viewers.
4. Jenn Tran is beautiful and smart
Another reason we’re more than excited for Jenn Tran to be The Bachelorette is that she has both beauty and brains.
The physician’s assistant student, who took time away from her studies to be on The Bachelor, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2020 with a bachelor of science in molecular biology.
While still at the University of Wisconsin, Jenn raised over $30,000 for women’s cardiovascular health as the lead for the Red Dress Gala with her sorority, Alpha Phi.
5. Jenn Tran knows what she wants in a partner
After being announced as The Bachelorette lead, Jenn told Entertainment Tonight what she was looking for in a partner, and she definitely knows what she wants.
Jenn explained that it’s “cheeky banter” that she’s looking for in her partner. She went on to talk about how “looks fade” and that she’s more interested in finding someone with a similar sense of humor whom she can laugh with and have a great time.
As for Jenn’s biggest dealbreaker, she says that it is “chewing with your mouth open.” She went on to explain that she’s been on so many dates with men who don’t have basic manners and that chewing with their mouth open is not just really common but also a huge turn off.
The Bachelorette Season 21 premieres on Monday, July 8 at 8/7c on ABC.