A New Campaign Is Calling For Fat Inclusion On The Bachelor Franchise
"Roses For Every Body" advocates for body diversity both on and off camera.
The Bachelor franchise has made some recent strides in increasing diversity on the show — including casting Matt James as the show’s first Black Bachelor in 2021 — but a new campaign is calling for more change. Roses For Every Body, which launched on July 11, is a new campaign demanding fat representation in the leads, contestants, and crew of the Bachelor franchise. According to a press release shared with Elite Daily, the campaign is calling for the Bachelor franchise to be inclusive of all bodies and to showcase “beautiful, fat badasses on our favorite reality television show!”
Roses For Every Body, which is led by Jenna Vesper from the Bachelor recap podcast Date Card, is seeking to build on the work the Bachelor Diversity Campaign has done to encourage stronger BIPOC representation on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and the other Bachelor shows.
According to the press release, in the 20 years the franchise has been on the air, there have been more than 1,100 contestants, but only two of those contestants identify as plus-size — and both of those contestants went home on Night 1 of their respective seasons. Seeing as roughly one-third of the U.S. population is considered fat, a large portion of the Bachelor franchise audience is not represented on screen.
A statement from Roses For Every Body reads:
Fat people exist. Fat people are beautiful. Fat people deserve a chance to find love. And finally, fat people deserve social platforms and capital, just as much as the 1,100+ previous thin contestants who’ve received this opportunity. The time is right to rectify this harmful exclusion. Now is the time for the Bachelor franchise to do the bare minimum and start being inclusive of all bodies.
Roses For Every Body is calling for fat inclusion beginning with the next season of The Bachelor, slated for January 2023. The campaign is specifically making five demands of the Bachelor franchise, its creator Mike Fleiss, NZK Productions, Warner Bros., and ABC:
- Cast a minimum of five diverse fat people each season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
- Give equitable, non-fat identity-focused screen time to the fat contestants.
- Choose leads who specify that they will date diverse fat people.
- Provide support to fat contestants, including inclusive clothing options when required for sponsored events and mental health support to navigate anti-fat harassment from the audience.
- Hire fat staff and production and incorporate fat inclusion training from fat liberationists.
Supporters can follow the campaign on Instagram and Twitter.
