The Bachelorette made some franchise history on Monday.
The long-running hit ABC reality dating series announced its first Asian American lead. After 20 seasons, The Bachelorette‘s Jenn Tran will make franchise history in that role.
Tran, who was eliminated before hometown week on Joey Graziadei’s now-concluded 28th season of The Bachelor, was announced as the season 21 Bachelorette lead during Graziadei’s three-hour After the Final Rose live finale on Monday night. Former Bachelorette Charity Lawson broke the news on air, telling host Jesse Palmer that Tran would be taking over as the next lead.
“It’s incredible, and I feel so, so grateful and so honored to be the first Asian American Bachelorette in this franchise,” said Tran. “Growing up, I always wanted to see Asian representation on TV, and I feel like it was really sparse. Any time Asians were in the media it was to fill a supporting character role, fulfill some sort of stereotype, and I always felt boxed in by that.”
She continued, “I was like, ‘I don’t see myself on screen, I don’t see myself as a main character.’ And now to be here today sitting in this position saying, ‘I am going to lead my own love story — I am going to be the main character of my story,’ I just can’t help but think of how many people I’m inspiring and how many lives I’m changing.”
The Bachelorette will return this summer. Graziadei’s season ended with an engagement to contestant Kelsey Anderson. Graziadei was the runner-up during Lawson’s season.
“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world,” Graziadei said in the After the Final Rose special, indicating the pair’s plan to move together to New York. “I cannot wait to see what comes next.”
In a press release from ABC, the network described the 26-year-old Tran as “a sweet and compassionate woman who has dedicated her life to helping others and is currently studying to…
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