The Bachelor franchise has been working with great leads for the last several seasons, but the franchise should choose a villain to lead the next season to spice things up for viewers who are beginning to get bored. While The Bachelor and The Bachelorette typically choose leads who are viewer’s favorites in the franchise, the majority of leads in the last few years have become boring after moving from contestant to lead. Despite knowing that the leads on the series have to move away from their personalities in many ways, Bachelor Nation often roots for their favorites to become leads.

After The Bachelor season 28 plucked Joey Graziadei from Charity Lawson’s season, where he was a funny, vulnerable, spontaneous contestant, he became the lead of his season. While Joey was a great contestant on The Bachelorette, many found him boring as a Bachelor. This tends to happen throughout the franchise, even though many Bachelor Nation viewers push for their favorite contestants to move into the lead position every season. In earlier years of the series, the casting of the lead would be less about who Bachelor Nation liked and more about who was dynamic enough to hold down a season.

The Bachelor Often Chooses A Sweet Lead

They’re Looking For Someone To Root For

Each season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the show often casts its lead from the previous season of the opposite show in the franchise. Bachelors tend to be the sweetest man who couldn’t make the cut on The Bachelorette, while Bachelorettes tend to be the strongest woman who didn’t fit the bill on The Bachelor. Opting for leads who are softer and less polarizing in recent years, the Bachelor franchise has been hopeful they’ll be able to continue to cast less dynamic leads, as the production side of the series feels leads have to be more diplomatic than contestants.

Leads Like Joey Graziadei & Jenn Tran Come Off Boring

Dynamic Contestants Make Boring Leads

While Joey was one of the most fun contestants to watch on The Bachelorette, the dynamic side of his personality that drew Bachelor Nation in didn’t completely make it to his time as The Bachelor. Instead of the spontaneous, fun guy Bachelor Nation met during Charity’s season, Joey became diplomatic, stressed, and lost the sparkle he’d had during his original season. Similarly, Jenn Tran first appeared on The Bachelor season 28 with Joey and was a fun, bubbly figure on The Bachelor, but throughout The Bachelorette season 21 has been far more diplomatic, having to tamp down her effervescent personality.

People who work well as contestants in the Bachelor franchise tend to have to tone things down considerably as leads, as they’re in a position of power. Being considerate of the contestants’ feelings and trying to make sure they come off as fair on screen, the leads have to be a bit more boring than the contestants, especially when they were cast as a nice or kind figure on their original season. This makes choosing the lead from a pool of well-liked contestants far more difficult than Bachelor Nation realizes, but leaves an option open for the production team.

Villains On The Series Could Revitalize The Franchise

Villain Figures Make Better Leads

Although it hasn’t been done in years, the villain figures of Bachelor Nation tend to make better leads than the contestants who are well-liked by the viewers. There are some villains who shouldn’t be given the lead, like those who have made hateful public statements against specific groups or seem to be genuinely bad people. However, most Bachelor Nation villains are simply fun, funny characters who don’t necessarily have a deep connection with the lead and choose to be chaotic on the show instead.

Famously, The Bachelor season 21 cast Nick Viall as a lead, who was initially a villain figure on the first two seasons of the series he appeared on. Nick’s season was an incredible turning point for Bachelor Nation, as he was able to be a bit more dynamic as the lead of his own season, offering commentary and quips that a normal “nice” lead wouldn’t be able to. Casting a villain creates an interesting space for Bachelor Nation to root for an underdog, and hear the sort of commentary The Bachelor franchise normally wouldn’t allow for a lead.