The fifteenth season of the Bachelorette is set to premiere on May 22, just in a little under two weeks. This season stars Rachel Lindsay, the first African-American bachelorette ever in Bachelor history. Lindsay is a 31-year old attorney from Dallas, Texas. She first made her Bachelor debut on the twenty-first season of the Bachelor starring Nick Viall, where she finished third after being eliminated from hometown dates.
The announcement
ABC announced that Rachel Lindsay would be The Bachelorette back in February. The news came as a spoiler to many fans as she was still a contestant on Nick Viall’s season of the Bachelor, which was airing at the time.
Rachel said, however, that they chose to make the announcement early since they were just a few weeks from beginning to film, and they were just so excited about the news that they couldn’t wait to share. They first made the announcement on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel.
In fact, ABC was so intent on starting Rachel’s season that they decide to commence it on the “After the Rose” special that aired on the night of the finale of Nick Viall’s season of the Bachelor. Host Chris Harrison surprised Rachel by bringing on four contestants of Rachel’s season and having them introduce themselves to her live on the show, rather than later on outside of the Bachelor mansion with all of the other contestants.
This was the first time this has ever happened in the history of the show.
Sneak peak
Fans got a sneak peak into the season when Lindsay held a group date on The Ellen Show in late March. Ellen first sent the men out into her studio audience to dance and collect money from audience members to determine, based on who earned the most money, which of the men was likely to win Rachel’s heart at the end of the season.
Later, she had the top two earners compete in the “Make it Rain” challenge.
Fans got to meet a few of the men and even got to learn some secrets about the season. Particularly, it was revealed that Lindsay had already had her first kiss on the show, and the lucky guy was amongst the group on the date. Both the studio audience and Lindsay seemed to love the bachelors.
Rachel Lindsay has to meet some high expectations set upon her for being the first African-American bachelorette. Poised, charming, and brilliant, Rachel will no doubt be an exemplary bachelorette, watched and admired by millions. Now, we can only wait in anticipation to see how her season pans out.
