The contestant behind the franchises foundational love story has some advice for its producers.
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Without Trista Sutter, its unlikelyThe Bacheloretteand, by association,The Bachelor would still be on the air.
Except it really hasnt.
Only fourBachelorettecouple winners are still together, compared toThe Bachelors three.
Its been nearly two decades since your inaugural season.
Does this franchise continue to interest or excite you?Oh yeah, for sure.
Im a very loyal person.
Im also incredibly sentimental, and I give credit where credit is due.
But Im a card-carrying member of Bachelor Nation.
Ive gotten to meet so many people I never wouldve connected with otherwise.
So for those reasons no matter whats going on in the season Ill always watch.
Im now watching the show with my daughter.
That brings a whole other component to it.
But I love love.
My husband and my children would not exist without the show.
What does your daughter think ofThe Bachelorette?She loves to watch it.
Because she came from it!
She has a pride thats like, This is where my parents met and its a happy story.
Kaitlyn Bristowe is her favorite Bachelorette and shes come to visit us a few times.
She has a sweet little relationship with Kaitlyn.
Has your loyalty to the franchise ever been tested?Any good relationship goes through struggles.
Tell me more about that.Im not talking about my marriage.
Im talking about any relationship with anyone.
This includes the producers.
Mind you, my struggles have not been all that difficult.
Weve had a pretty happy relationship since everything has started.
The biggest struggle was around the wedding because it had never been done before.
It was a negotiation, so I let the managers deal with that.
That was really the only contentious moment between the producers and myself.
She wanted to get some emotion out of me other than me shutting down and being silent.
If youre the lead, you do have to be able to emote.
If contestants dont share what theyre going through, viewers arent going to connect with them.
This is purely my own thoughts as a viewer.
But the innocence is way gone.
Back when Ryan and I were on, it was a fairly novel experience.
I think they need to do new things to change it up.
I dont appreciate that the producers left the decisions up to Gabby and Rachel.
There was a lack of structure and format.
It remained that way for years.
With two leads, they still should have had some kind of agreed-upon structure before the season began filming.
Its unfair to them that there was a lack of format.
Theres been a lot of extra unnecessary confusion and hurt feelings.
Im not a fan of that.
Find someone successful, endearing, charming, intelligent, sweet, and attractive.
I get that they have these people who have been on the show and have a following.
Viewers have a vested interest in seeing that they find love.
The recycling part of it has some benefits.
But I would really love to see someone we all could fall in love with together.
The Bachelorettein 2003 represented a different moment in pop culture than it does now.
When the show started, I remember being part of a panel with Mike Fleiss and Mark Burnett.
Everyone from the media was telling us, This is just a one-off.
This isnt going to last, why do you think its going to last?
And the guys were like, Its going to last.
Its evolved, unfortunately, because of social media.
People are coming on the show without the same intentions they used to.
Intentions being, they were coming for love and that was it.
There was no social media to extract fame from.
There were famous people who came out of the show, if thats what you want to call it.
Back in the day, people with a business would maybe talk about their business.
Same with musicians who wanted to promote their music.
There are people who are business savvy.
The difference is now theyre able to comeoutof it with a business.
Thats a great evolution.
Do they still have room to grow?
But I do think they have gotten better.
I was excited to see more diversity this season.
I wouldnt watch the show if I thought everyone was ready to become an influencer.
I get that people do that and I understand its kind of a draw for some people.
Its a fun job to be able to travel the world and post pictures and videos about it.
Who wouldnt want to do that?
I would if I was still single or if we didnt have kids.
Ill always think that.
Im getting flashes of different things.
There was a lot more depth in the first few seasons.
Hell rarely watch anymore.
He was mimicking what was going on in the episode.
Now, can we make out?
Oh yeah, we had such a fun day today.
Can we make out?
Its all about making out.
My daughter thinks what her dad is saying is the funniest thing in the world.
And Im like, Stop it, thats not what its about!
But I realized theres some truth to it.
For my season, I kissed four guys.
Its now become pretty standard to be like, Oh, we just met.
Can we kiss just to see?
Its speed dating on steroids.
The fundamental tenets are kissing and trauma bonding.Youre right.
Things are sped up and thats contributing to the lack of depth in the beginning.
To me thats a little more superficial the kissing even though its a very important part of a relationship.
If Ryan had been a bad kisser, I dont know that we wouldve ended up together.
Hes an incredible kisser, the best of my life.
Thats where I see connection with people.
Does the authenticity remain?Oh, I think its still there.
I wouldnt be as much of a fan if I didnt see authenticity.
Admittedly, you might have to look harder for it than in years past.
But I do still think its there and itll continue to be.
If there wasnt any authenticity, thats when the show will have to say goodbye.
There are certain elements that connect me back to the show I was on.
But the lack of structure and format seems very different to me.
Why dont they have me come on and talk to the people or offer any kind of advice?
Because viewers want to see the people they follow on Instagram.
Im sure the younger demographics probably have no clue who I am.
My hope is always, Oh, this couple is going to last.
Well, its just not true.
Thats how things go.
All relationships have struggles.
Ours just happen to be in the spotlight from being in this franchise.
That adds a whole other stress.
But I dont think its unrecognizable.
Because Im the oldest one, Im the mom of the group.
Some of them have called me grandma, which I donotlike.
I like the fairy godmother.
I just feel like a kindred spirit.
Theres a sense of pride there for my girls.
I know youre not asking for a favorite, but I dont know.
I love all of them.
Ill be like, Why are you doing that?!
None of us were perfect.
We were all going through our journey.
No one does it the same.
We all have different struggles.
The end result is just trying to find that guy.
Was the Bachelor ever called those things?
Kaitlyn Bristowe has talked about getting death threats after sleeping with Nick Viall on her season.
I think its unfortunate that women cant …
I hesitate to say all this, because who knows if my children are going to read it.
But I would love for there to not be a double standard when it comes to sex.
I dont think were there yet.
How complicit has the franchise been in perpetuating this behavior?I hate that whole conversation.
It breaks my heart.
I had Rachel on my podcast a year or so ago.
We talked about race and what she had gone through.
I support their statement.
And there are no consequences.
I feel like there should be.
I hate that anyone from the show has ever gotten any kind of hate when it comes to race.
My aunt married a Black man.
My cousin is Black.
He lived in my house for a while.
I have a connection to it, but I didnt experience it.
I feel like the franchise has learned some lessons.
I do think they could still improve on supporting people of different races on the show.
Hopefully that will continue to grow.
Rachel has done such a good job.
Shes been very outspoken about how she doesnt want to be connected to the franchise anymore.
What meaningful changes to the production are overdue at this point?Obviously they need a lead of color.
Thats a huge one.
Do you think it was the correct decision for Chris Harrisonto leaveas host?From his perspective?
No, from yours.
And I suppose from the production side.[Pauses.]
Hes a friend of mine.
Its been different since hes left.
I loved that Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams were there because they could be girls with the girls.
But its different without Chris.
I think he wouldve been able to crush this job until the show was over.
No doubt about it.
But I also think he was maybe ready for a change.
I miss him as the host.
I wont lie about that.
Has Chris confided to you as a friend about the situation?I havent talked to him about it.
Have you given much thought to how your marriage legitimized the franchise?
If it wasnt us, it wouldve had to be somebody else.
Because I do feel like in those middle years, the franchise needed some kind of legitimacy.
I do feel like we helped.
No, we havent.
I live my life for me and for my husband and our family.
Weve never felt pressured to stay together to provide legitimacy to the show.
We made a very conscious decision to move to Colorado after our wedding and engagement.
Ryan is a mountain man at heart.
He will never be happy anywhere else.
Ive been told multiple times, You should have been a producer.
They are my family, even though much of todays production team and crew werent there for my season.
I do feel like the atmosphere is full of energy and hope.
What makes you optimistic about the future of the franchise?Purelymyoptimism.
The franchise is going to do what its going to do, and Im always going to be hopeful.
