How The Bachelor No Longer Guarantees A Career As An Influencer
It used to be common that becoming a finalist on The Bachelor practically paved the way to a career as a successful social media influencer, but that is no longer the case. Trista Sutter, the original runner-up on the show who was then cast as the first Bachelorette, married the recipient of her final rose in a lavish network television production and has a respectable 360 thousand followers nearly 20 years later, but even that's a tough number to reach these days. It's also very admirable, as her role in Bachelor Nation is virtually non-existent these days.
One of the women who has turned her tenure on the show into a successful media career is Rachel Lindsey, the first Black Bachelorette. Rachel, who came in third on her cycle of The Bachelor, was promoted to the lead role and found love with Bryan Abasolo, who is now her husband. Rachel is definitely one of the more successful alumna, having parlayed her time on the show into a position as a full-time correspondent for Extra. Other former Bachelorettes, who have Instagram followers that number into the millions are Kaitlyn Bristowe (2M) and Tayshia Adams (1.8M), who paired up as hosts for the show after Chris Harrison was ousted.
According to Buzzfeed, the sweet spot for transforming an appearance on the show into big bucks was from 2015 to 2020. The outlet surmised that two issues likely began to affect one's potential to make the leap to successful influencer: oversaturation and authenticity. The first reason is simply a numbers game. With so many new people coming down the pike every year, there's a glut of personalities to chose from on social media. In addition to that, viewers are now savvy to the fact that people come on the show as much to launch a career (social media or otherwise) as to find love, so the genuineness of participants' motives is often called into question.
That magical period between 2015 and 2020 yielded fan favorite, Hannah Brown who, after an unremarkable seventh place finish on Colton Underwood's season, went on to become The Bachelorette. In one of the ultimate betrayals ever experienced by a lead on the show, it was revealed that the recipient of Hannah's final rose (Jed Wyatt) was in fact, attempting to convert his exposure on the show into a career as a country artist. Viewers were witness to the demise of the relationship after Hannah's discovery of Jed's on-going relationship with a woman back in his hometown of Nashville.
Hannah's season ended in 2019 and may have been the catalyst for a sea-change when it came to the show. The world was soon to be quarantining at home and perhaps watching a system that had been so brutally exposed just didn't sit right with an audience who was looking for bright spots during a pandemic. This on the heels of the "me too" movement may have been the perfect storm to put a damper on post-Bachelor earning potential. It might also be the case that women were tiring of the harem-like set-up that took all the power away from them. In any case, the phrase "he/she isn't here for the right reasons!" seems to be uttered on The Bachelor as often as "will you accept this rose?" lately.
Source: Buzzfeed