The Bachelor producers have been determined to get viewers excited about Clayton Echard as the next leading man, but instead, The Bachelorette viewers are understandably getting more frustrated.
There have been several men of different backgrounds from both Michelle Young and Katie Thurston’s season on The Bachelorette that fans were hoping to see star on The Bachelor, however, production chose to give Clayton the coveted role before he was even introduced to fans.
The Bachelorette viewers have grown increasingly more vocal about their disappointment in production and Clayton who appears to be more of the same for the franchise. Clayton Echard is even being painted as an underdog in advertisements which many find to be unforgivably inaccurate.
The Bachelorette viewers think Rodney Mathews would be a better ‘underdog’ Bachelor
In promoting Clayton’s season of The Bachelor, a poster was released of Clayton holding adorable puppies, similar to promotional images used for extremely similar Bachelor star Colton Underwood.
The tagline on Clayton’s poster read, “Everyone loves an underdog” which has The Bachelorette viewers up in arms considering Rodney Mathews was a far more beloved underdog than Clayton.
One The Bachelorette viewer tweeted, “I’ll never forgive bachelor for making Clayton the underdog tagline. Because he is NOT RODNEY.”
Another critic expressed finding the show’s treatment and dismissal of Rodney to be nasty, saying, “I find it very f****d up that this whole season they have built the storyline that Rodney is an underdog only to not choose him as the Bachelor and give this tagline to this man. AND announce all this the day he was sent home. Very very nasty”
A fan continued to advocate for Rodney writing, “RODNEY was the underdog we asked for. Not Clayton.”
Clayton Echard speaks to how the franchise continues to ‘center whiteness’
A tweet from The Blachelorettes podcast powerfully broke down why the producers’ choice to make Clayton the next Bachelor reflects a deeper issue beyond Clayton just being unexciting.
Within their statement, they expressed, “Our frustrations and displeasure are directly with ABC and The Producers of the show and how they consistently choose to center whiteness.”
The statement continued to critique the audacity of calling Clayton an underdog, saying, “They go out of their way to pretend they are about diversity and changing things to be more inclusive etc then have the AUDACITY to call this cishet, tall, conventionally attractive, football playing white man an underdog when he has never been an underdog a day in his life.”
The Bachelor may just be a reality show but The Blachelorettes post explained why the series still reflects a larger societal issue, saying, “This world literally goes out of its way to glorify people like him and ensure he gets everything he desires because patriarchy and white supremacy are best friends.”
Finally, a critic emphasized that Clayton didn’t give enough for fans to feel attached or interested and suggested the producers should have waited to pick an emerging fan favorite that the people wanted instead of desperately pushing Clayton.
Will you be watching Clayton Echard on The Bachelor?
The Bachelor premieres Monday, January 3rd at 8/7c on ABC.