It's official. Matt James will be handing out the roses on the next season of The Bachelor!
Typically fans of the show are familiar with the lead because we get to know them from previous seasons of either The Bachelor, The Bachelorette or Bachelor In Paradise, but James is a seemingly new face for the franchise...except to eagle-eyed fans! While we don't know much about him currently, we would have gotten to know him on Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette (which should have been airing now but production was delayed due to the pandemic). James was originally cast to be one of the men vying for her heart...but the tables have turned!
Even prior to being casted for Crawley's season, James was in the loop of Bachelor Nation however. He is best friends & roommates with Tyler Cameron (who lost Hannah Brown's heart to Jed Wyatt) and even spent the first bit of quarantine with both Cameron and Brown.
While Rachel Lindsay broke the barrier by becoming the first black lead ever on The Bachelor franchise, James is following in her footsteps of history by being the first black male lead.
James made his first appearance as the Bachelor on Good Morning America this morning and said that he thinks the show is "a step in the right direction."
GMA asked if they think the move of making James the first black Bachelor is "too little too late" and James replied by saying "I don't think it's ever the wrong time to do the right thing...too little too late for me is this happening and we can't have change until we put that first foot forward and that first foot forward for The Bachelor franchise is having a black lead, so I'm excited to take on that role."
The announcement of James becoming the Bachelor comes shortly after a campaign circulated around Twitter calling out the franchise for only having 1 black lead after 40 seasons. "The franchise, and all those who represent it, should reflect and honor the racial diversity of our country--both in front of and behind the camera," is one of the statements from the petition. At this point, the campaign has gathered over 85K signatures.
No further details on production of the newest season of The Bachelor have been revealed. Typically, The Bachelor airs during the first/second week of January.