The Bachelor finale played out without a hitch when Grant Ellis debuted his winner on live television Monday night. After revealing their season 29 engagement, Ellis and Juliana Pasquarosa appeared as a happy couple on ABC’s live After the Final Rose stage. Sure, there was drama, as one could expect from the reality dating show’s setup where one finalist — this time, the blindsided Litia Garr — nearly always ends up brokenhearted. There was also a twist reveal when it was announced that senior-aged contestants from the Golden Bachelor and Bachelorette will be appearing on this summer’s milestone 10th season of Bachelor in Paradise.
All in all, it was the type of ending viewers could expect from a Bachelor season. And considering the leadership upheaval going on at franchise, that’s a production success.
If you ask Ellis, the 31-year-old day trader from New Jersey says he felt supported behind the scenes during Monday night’s live finale, which was the second time he was in the hot seat in real time, following the March 10 Women Tell All special. “I had a really good team around me with some of the people I worked with when I was filming that I could, for what it’s worth, trust in that situation,” he says of the producers who were on hand during the After the Final Rose. “They told me what [ATFR] was going to be like and the reality of it, and I went in there prepared,” he says, adding, “as prepared as I could be.”
The timing of behind-the-scenes changes at the Warner Bros.-produced reality series are unfortunate for Ellis, who, as the franchise’s second-ever Black male lead, was handed the rose with high expectations. Amid a push to diversify the franchise in recent years, new showrunners Claire Freeland, Bennett Graebner and Jason Ehrlich took over after the exit of franchise creator Mike Fleiss in 2023. They vowed to do better by Ellis than they did with their first Black Bachelor, Matt James. But 10 days before Ellis’ finale would air, Freeland and Graebner exited the franchise. (Ehrlich had already departed in 2024.)
After news broke that The Bachelorette was going to be put on pause for its 22nd season, leading to layoffs for the show’s crew, Deadline published allegations of a toxic set from anonymous former staffers. Shortly after that report, co-executive producers Michael Margolis and Keely Booth left the franchise. Ten days later, Freeland and Graebner made their exits. Freeland and Graebner have denied the allegations through their attorneys; Margolis is married to Freeland. ABC and Warner Bros. have not said who is steering the ship in their absences.
When breaking it off with his runner-up, Ellis took accountability for his decision. “When you’re the Bachelor, there’s a lot of wrong you can do because it’s an uncomfortable situation dating 25 people,” he says now, recalling his own experience on The Bachelorette. “Whether I agree with what was said or not, I’m not going to sit there and argue. At the end of the day, Litia is hurt. I know what it feels like to be broken up with on TV and to think that you’re the person. I understand what that’s like, so I just have to tkae one on the chin and apologize, and I feel like that’s what I did.”
What proved harder for Ellis to confront was the external pressure that he felt as a nonwhite lead. That is something past leads of color have spoken out about, and even something the audience pushed back on after seeing how the most recent Bachelorette, Jenn Tran, was treated during her live finale last year.
“There’s an extra level of scrutiny or pressure that you feel when you’re a lead of color,” says Ellis. “Maybe it’s the way you talk or the way that you say something, or you’re not what [the audience is] used to, so they put a stigma on you, ‘Oh, you’re a player or you’re this or that.’ I’m just a guy that’s looking for love.”
He continues, “I was in a seven-year relationship before this. I was celibate for a year. I have good intentions. But because I have tattoos, wear earrings or I like music … I just think the world needs to understand that love is universal, and I think it starts with understanding where the other person is coming from.”
Ellis says he was true to himself while the cameras were up and in the end, he got the outcome he was hoping for. “I tried to showcase who I am. Whether the audience likes it or not, that’s me. I think there’s a certain formula [to the show], and I did my best in that situation,” he says. How he’s been received, however, is out of his control. Heading into the finale, ratings for Ellis’ season were down 28 percent from the last Bachelor season (at least before streaming and other delayed viewing).
“I think the show is great. The Bachelor is very unique. I think the issue sometimes could be with the audience and how what they believe love should look,” he says. “Everybody’s different. You have people in Africa who are in love, people in Paris who are in love. Love looks different. The journey’s hard and it’s tough, but if you look at the [recent Bachelor seasons] there are successful relationships and if it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t have found Juliana. So at the end of it, I’m grateful.”
With new leadership changes will come the opportunity for the reality juggernaut to refresh itself, or even reset. Bringing the Golden Bachelor and Bachelorette constants to the franchise’s most saucy series, Bachelor in Paradise, is certainly one way to freshen things up amid competition in the growing reality dating space from streaming hits like Love Is Blind or Love Island, to name only a couple.
And for the franchise to continue to diversity, contestants of color have to keep signing up for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, if/when the latter returns.
“You have to have some really thick skin, and you have to be yourself,” advises Ellis to incoming contestants of color. “Take accountability and then move to where happiness is. That’s the main focus — being happy with my person, getting through that phase and focusing on us and on happiness.”
Pasquarosa, now publicly by his side, agrees. “Now is the perfect opportunity to just learn about each other on so many different levels,” she says. “We’re going to get to live together, travel together, go to dinner together and really just take it one day at a time.”
The Bachelor season 29 is now streaming on Hulu.
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