Oct 172 min read

Jenn Tran: The Unexpected Bachelorette

How ABC fumbled the spotlight for its first Asian-American lead and why fans are calling for change

By: Hayley Power

Credit: Disney and ABC

The first time we met Jenn Tran was on season 28 of The Bachelor, during Joey Graziadei’s run as the titular bachelor. Jenn was there to find love, but she left in episode 7 (just before hometowns). Then, during the season finale, Bachelor Nation got a surprise when Jenn was announced as the first Asian-American Bachelorette! This twist caused some buzz, as many fans expected either Daisy Kent or Maria Georgas to fill that role.

Credit: @katemymind on X

But the fans weren’t the only ones caught off guard. It turns out the men competing for Jenn’s heart were also a little blindsided! Here is where things started to go downhill for ABC. Since they didn’t reveal Jenn as the Bachelorette until the final Bachelor episode, the men were chosen before knowing who they’d be fighting for.

On a group date, contestant Sam McKinney admitted on-air,

“This girl is not my type. I thought the Bachelorette was going to be Daisy or Maria.”

While I could write you a 10-page essay on the audacity of some of the men from this season, what surprised me more was that ABC left this statement in the final cut! They could have easily edited it out, but instead they threw shade at Jenn and made it clear that she wasn’t the original plan. They tried to fix this mistake when they announced Grant as the season 29 Bachelor, giving the women plenty of time to apply. Jenn, on the other hand, got the short end of the stick.

Jenn Tran and Ex-Fiance, Devin Strader Credit: Disney/John Fleenor

Jenn’s season ended in an engagement with contestant Devin Strader, but soon after the pair experienced a devastating breakup. After tearfully explaining to the audience what happened, the show brought Devin out to sit with her and watch the proposal. When asked if they were ready to watch the footage, Jenn replied “Do I have a choice?” The show’s producers zoomed in on her face during the screening, capturing every emotion that arose from forcing her to relive the heartbreak, all with her ex right beside her.

Credit: @lovedyoutruly on X

ABC, realizing they’d messed up, tried to fix their mistake by flying Jenn out the very next morning to join Dancing With the Stars. She wasn’t in the promos, she didn’t have a partner lined up, and they scrambled to pull it together. This is an amazing opportunity for Jenn and she is absolutely tearing up the dance floor so far, but fans (myself included) are sick of Jenn becoming the last choice.

Credit: Eric McCandless via Getty Images

Fans are rooting for Jenn, but we’re tired of seeing her as the backup plan. It is time for ABC to own up to their mistakes and give Jenn the spotlight she deserves.

Hayley Power is a first-year Media Production major at the University of Florida. She’s an online writer for Rowdy Magazine, a photographer for Swamp Records, on the marketing team for The Women’s Network UF, and part of Dance Marathon’s multimedia team. She’s obsessed with all things music, media, and reality TV.