I have been watching “The Bachelor” for years now and each time ABC announces who is going to be the next love interest, I am deeply disappointed. 

For years, I have had to watch as some average white guy is fought over by a group of women who start out diverse but are ultimately shaved down to, you guessed it, white women. The reality is that audiences want to see themselves represented. This includes height, size, sexual orientation and race. It is a pretty basic list and yet, ABC has never been able to deliver on this simple request. That is, until the 25th season of “The Bachelor.”

 A few months ago, Matt James was announced as the next star of the show and women everywhere lunged at their chance to date him. It should be noted that James is the first black Bachelor and has never previously been cast within the Bachelor universe. The location of the season was enough to make me audibly laugh because in comparison to Clare Crawley, the Bachelorette of the previous season, the budget increased drastically. Somehow, ABC found enough money to go from a Motel 6 to The Biltmore. Remember, the devil works hard but Chris Harrison works harder.

 In his first week, the most diverse group of women ever seen on the show stepped out of the limo. An honorable mention of the night was Katie, a 29-year-old bank marketing manager from Washington State. She met Matt while holding a phallic object in hand, which she called her “quarantine buddy.” Naturally, he gave her a rose. Another was Victoria, who is 27 years old and from L.A., and refers to herself as the “Queen.” She is by far the most blatantly planted cast member I have ever seen on the show. There is no way any man with a brain in his head would give this woman a rose unless he was being forced to do so. Regardless, she needs to go home as soon as possible, but for the sake of “the most dramatic season yet,” she will be here for a while.

The “first impression rose” went to Abigail, who is a twenty-five-year-old client-financial manager from Oregon. She was born deaf, and she must be protected at all costs.

The unique aspect of this season is that there are more women than ever before. So, not everyone will be going on a date for the first few weeks. No date usually means that the black Tahoe will have your name on it, and you will be saying your goodbyes.

 Bri, 24, from San Francisco, got the first one-on-one date of the season. For her date, Matt made her ride on an ATV in a sleeveless turtleneck and white sneakers. That is offensive. The date took a turn when Matt revealed to Bachelor nation that he is a psychopath. The man kisses with his eyes opened, and it must be stopped. At the end of her date, Bri received a rose.

 The producers, after hearing Victoria say that she did not want to be on the group date, put her on the group date. Victoria made it clear that she is not here to make friends, but only to date Matt. The girl complains about not wanting to be in a sorority, when she willingly auditioned for a show that has been making a group of 20 plus women sleep in the same house for decades. Every chance she gets, she ruins the moment with the whiny sound of her mouth. Victoria talks like she is in a Saturday Night Live skit, and she cannot control her own insecurities enough to let the other women breathe. 

 There were 18 women on the group date this week and with that, the acrylics were out and ready to attack. The beginning of the date entailed the women putting on wedding dresses and being photographed with Matt by an escaped Muppet. On the date, the moment Victoria leaned in for her photo with Matt, he bit his lip and made the most “bruh” face I have ever seen on this show. The poor man is definitely being forced by the producers to keep her on for content. 

 Of the 18 women, only six got to go to the dinner portion of the group date. Victoria had to ask Matt for a kiss after he asked her if he could walk her back to the group. Girl, read the room. 

 Lauren, a 29-year-old from Miami got the group date rose. 

  second one-on-one of the week went to Sarah, the 27-year-old from San Diego. On her date, she received a rose after opening up to Matt about her father’s health condition. Sarah’s father is battling ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. After quitting her job as a broadcast journalist, Sarah moved back home to be a caregiver for her dad. She is truly a selfless person and I can see her making it to Matt’s top 3 women. During the rose ceremony, Sarah began to black out and we were left with “to be continued….”

 Week three started right back where we last left off. Sarah fainted and Matt left his rose ceremony to take her outside, leaving all the women waiting to find out of who would get the last few roses. After all of Victoria’s antics from last week, Marylynn got sent home. Immediately following the rose ceremony, Victoria said she is now ready to see Sarah go.

 This week, there were two group dates and only one one-on-one. For the first group date, a former Bachelor contestant and staple within Bachelor Nation, Ashley I., asked the women to write their own love stories with Matt. In addition to that, the women had to read their stories in front of the rest of the women in the house. As usual, Victoria took her internalized misogyny and directed it towards shaming the other women for having “vanilla” stories. 

 After hearing the women read their stories, Sarah (who was not on the date), expressed that she was struggling with hearing the other women talk about their fantasies with Matt. I do not think she fully prepared herself to be a show where women willingly date a man who is dating twenty other women at the same time. Her issue was with the whole concept of the show itself. Sarah added on that her one-on-one date last week has caused some jealousy in her towards other women. So, she decided the best thing to do was to interrupt Matt’s group date and express her struggles and worries to him. This was after Chris Harrison told the women that everyone would be getting a date with Matt this week. 

 Katie was interrupted by Sarah, and was eventually encouraged by Victoria to go and talk to Matt. As she left, Sarah proceeded to make out with Matt while Katie was sitting a few feet away.

 Serena, the 22-year-old publicist from Toronto, got the one-on-one date for the week. At the beginning of the date, Matt went off to find Sarah, got into bed with her and told her that he would come and find her each day to reassure her, if that was what it would take. Later on in the episode, Sarah decided to go home to be with her dad. There was no rose ceremony, but the promo for week four revealed that five new women will be joining the house.