Life comes at you fast, especially when you’re part of Bachelor Nation. It seems like just yesterday that we were applauding Nick for giving a woman of color the first impression rose on his season of The Bachelor. Now, the current season of The Bachelorette with Rachel Lindsay who was way too good for Nick anyway is well underway, and Lindsay is happily engaged, though we’ve yet to find out to whom. With only two episodes of her season under our belts, there are hints dropping about who may or may not be headed to Mexico for Bachelor in Paradise — where everyone who didn’t find love on The Bachelor or Bachelorette but still wants to be famous can give it another go with peers in their same boat.
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One question likely on a lot of people’s minds is how diverse the upcoming BIP cast will be. Lindsay’s current season has made history for the franchise. Not only is Lindsay the first Black lead, ever, 14 of her 31 contestants were men of color. A season with nearly 50% of the contestants being non-white is also a record. Times clearly seem to be changing for the Bachelor franchise. But so far, it doesn’t look like Bachelor in Paradise is ready or able to catch the wave.
We rounded up a list of contestants who we feel pretty sure will be have having some fun in the sun, and all eight of them — half of the contestant pool for the spin-off — are white. It doesn’t look like they’ll be matching the quota set by Lindsay and her gang. This lack of diversity would be on par for this installment of the show, though. In three seasons of Bachelor in Paradise, only four of the contestants have been people of color.
For what it’s worth, it would be pretty difficult for Bachelor in Paradise to match the diversity of The Bachelorette, because the contestants all come from previous seasons. Even though there are fewer cast members Bachelor in Paradise, there haven’t been enough people of color over the show’s history to have a big enough selection. As if we needed another reason to love Rachel Lindsay, we have her to thank for diversifying the pool for future seasons.