Opinion | ‘The Bachelorette’ season 21 finale: Jenn deserved better

Photo Collage by Emma Johnson, Staff Photographer

We first met 27-year-old aspiring physician’s assistant Jenn Tran when she rolled up the driveway of the Bachelor Mansion in a Go-kart, announcing to Bachelor Joey Graziadei that “every day with (her) would be an adventure.”

Fast forward past the tearful end of her and Joey’s love story — Jenn came in fifth place in Joey’s season, being dismissed just before hometowns — and the New Jersey native continued with this attitude as the lead of “The Bachelorette” season 21. Jenn coined the phrase “ferocious love” and set the tone for her season, which kicked off in an already unusual manner by evading the classic setting of the Bachelor Mansion. From there, Jenn began dwindling down her 25 men and took them jet-setting across the globe. 

Jenn definitely found the excitement she was looking for on her journey — she jumped from extreme heights multiple times throughout the season despite her fears, interacted with snakes and spiders on a group date in Australia and dealt with a man from her past flying across the world to confess his love to her mid-season. 

After a whirlwind season, complete with villains who turned into fan favorites and dream men who quickly became universally hated across Bachelor Nation, Jenn announced to her final contestant, Devin Strader, that she would not let him propose to her. 

She wanted to propose to him instead.

This season was advertised as a turning point for the entire Bachelor franchise; finally, there would be an Asian-American lead. Jenn Tran, who is of full Vietnamese descent, would be the first, 21 years into the franchise.

The Bachelor franchise has faced backlash in recent years for its lack of diversity. Rightfully so; the lineup of leads, winners and main characters of the series is notably very white. 

It wasn’t until 2021, 18 years of the show being on air, that “The Bachelor” cast a Black man to be the season’s lead. Even then, controversy and racism clouded his happy ending — photos were released of his final pick, Rachael Kirkconnell, wearing antebellum clothing and her likes on Confederate flag-related TikToks resurfaced.

Since Matt’s season, the Bachelor franchise has announced its intentions to create a more diversified experience. Their attempts have been less than dismal. Host Jesse Palmer was criticized earlier this year by fans after issuing a statement that didn't fully acknowledge the incidents of direct racism against contestants.  

This time around, the outcome is disappointingly similar.

Jenn’s season was over before it even started. What is in part the fault of Bachelor Nation — a fanbase that can oftentimes be ruthless and demanding — the announcement of Jenn as the Bachelorette wasn’t exactly celebrated by the public, who were hoping for fan-favorites Daisy Kent or Maria Georgas to be awarded with the title. 

Fans were also confused about the franchise’s decision to cast Jenn due to her lack of coverage on Joey’s season. Some fans even went as far as to speculate that the producers didn’t originally have Jenn in mind, suggesting that they settled after Daisy and Maria declined the title. 

Maria, who came in fourth place in Joey’s season and has amassed over one million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined, fueled the fire by appearing on multiple podcasts to claim that she was the producers’ original pick. Jenn responded by making her own appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast — which Maria was also a guest on — to explain the actual selection process and emphasizing her excitement to start her journey to find love.

But Jenn’s men were problematic from the moment they started shuffling out of the limo. 

A notable plot point of the season was the exhausting feud between first impression rose recipient Sam McKinney and season-winner Devin Strader. Multiple minutes of screen time per episode were devoted to the men fighting or complaining about each other to the other men. 

Viewers were surprised when Devin, who was originally given a villain edit in early episodes, advanced into the final few men. When he made it to the top four, also known as hometowns, he told Jenn that he loved her. As they grew closer and their connection became stronger, he made it to the top two alongside Marcus Shoberg. 

In the finale, Jenn and Marcus split up, leaving only Devin left. They were in love, or so they thought. 

Jenn did what no other Bachelorette had done before: she proposed to her final pick. It was an unprecedented and historic move, but it was quickly overshadowed by the drama that followed. 

It was revealed during the After The Final Rose (ATFR) programming that Jenn and Devin were no longer together. While they had been engaged for some time following the end of filming — which wraps up just a few months before the first episode's premiere — they made the off-screen decision to break up sometime this summer.

The shock and drama surrounding the couple’s doomed fate was nothing compared to the mess that gradually unraveled afterward. At the ATFR, Jenn was forced to rewatch her proposal while sitting right next to Devin. 

Fans expressed their disappointment with ABC for putting Jenn through this traumatic experience. Shortly — or better yet, immediately — after the finale aired, Jenn was on a plane to LA to compete on another show on the network: “Dancing with the Stars.” Bachelor Nation was not impressed, and saw this as an attempt from the show to try and justify their treatment towards Jenn by providing her with this shiny new opportunity to portray herself on national television.

So Jenn moved on, dancing her worries away and hanging out platonically — or so she says — with her third-place contestant, Jonathan Johnson (who actually attended Chapman!).

Meanwhile, Devin was actively Bachelor Nation’s #1 villain. The more fans learned about the demise of his and Jenn’s relationship, the more hate Devin received —  especially after videos of Devin and an ex-girlfriend, taken in between the end of filming and the show’s airing, surfaced online. 

Devin retaliated by posting a video of his own, which included his side of the story as well as several screenshots of texts between him and Jenn. It was cruel, unnecessary and a complete invasion of Jenn’s privacy. 

As the days go on and Devin’s image worsens, Jenn seems to be maintaining her focus on the prize: competing for this “Dancing with the Stars” season’s esteemed Mirrorball trophy. She comes out of “The Bachelorette” in the same state that she entered it — heartbroken. But this time, she’s all the more wiser and all the more loved by the public. 

She’s been hit time and time again; she’s been slighted by the show’s producers, treated horribly by the men and has been the butt of the joke in half of Bachelor Nation’s tweets and posts. What should have been a groundbreaking, heartwarming season of redemption for Jenn turned into emotional trauma and a toxic ex-fiancé.  

With nearly the entire fanbase in agreement, there is really only one thing left to say on the matter: Jenn deserved better.