Bachelor producers are getting candid about Matt James ' season of the show. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times , executive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner admitted missteps in the season that featured the show's first-ever Black lead. "I'm going to be really frank — we let Matt down.
That season went wrong on so many levels," Graebner said. "We did not protect him as we should have." James' season was embroiled in controversy when photos surfaced of eventual winner Rachael Kirkconnell at an Old South plantation-themed party while in college.
She later apologized and asked people to stop defending her actions. Later, longtime franchise host Chris Harrison defended Kirkconnell's past racist actions, encouraging people to offer her "grace," and speaking out against the "woke police," during an interview with former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay . He later apologized and was replaced as host by Jesse Palmer .
Though James ended his season by committing to a relationship with Kirkconnell, the pair revealed on the live portion of the finale that they'd called it quits amid her racism scandal. "The finale of that season was the darkest day I've had on this franchise," Graebner said. "Here was this great Black man, and we should have been celebrating his love story.
Instead, what we saw was a man burdened and overwhelmed by issues of racism. It was really sad for me personally." Eventually, James and Kirkconnell reconciled and have been together ever since.
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