The Bachelorette season 21 starring Jenn Tran has already begun filming, and one of her group dates features The Bachelorette Australia season 6 leading ladies Becky and Elly Miles, who are also sisters. Jenn got her start on Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season, during which she fell in love with the tennis pro. However, he eliminated her right before his hometown dates. Jenn now not only has the chance to continue her journey to find love on The Bachelorette season 21, but she’s also breaking new ground as the first-ever Asian American lead in Bachelor franchise history.
In an X post, Bachelor spoilers blogger Reality Steve shared some details about Jenn’s group date, which filmed in Australia. He wrote that the date consisted of “10 guys doing a – you guessed it – male stripper revue. This show loves to put men in boxers & thongs.”
Reality Steve added that the guest judges for the revue alongside Jenn were Becky and Elly Miles, sisters who were co-Bachelorettes on the Australian version of the show in 2020.
How Important Are Group Dates On The Bachelorette?
The Bachelorette group dates are good for entertainment value for the audience, but they aren’t really that useful for the lead to make decisions about which contestants she can see a future with. While it’s possible that Jenn might be able to gain some insight about the men’s personalities through a stripper revue, chances are she’s only going to embarrass some and possibly anger others. Group dates don’t do much to further the lead’s relationships with the men until she has the chance to speak to them alone at the after-parties. Also, it’s disappointing to hear that The Bachelorette is once again using stripping on a group date.
Fans have been expressing their distaste for this for many years. On the show, one of the biggest arguments about this happened during Clare Crawley’s season when Yosef Aborady was offended by a strip dodgeball date. Although Yosef wasn’t on the date, he told Clare that he didn’t see how humiliating the men translated into her finding a husband. He then infamously told her that she wasn’t setting the right example for his daughter. Although Yosef’s delivery was all wrong, he did raise a valid point about how the show takes advantage of its contestants for shock value. However, he shouldn’t have blamed Clare.
It actually might make sense for the Bachelor franchise to completely eliminate group dates. While it’s true that there’s a practical aspect to them because they allow the lead to get to know many people at once, there’s always the question of why there are so many contestants on the show in the first place. Seeing Joey begin his season with 32 women and then go on group dates with too many women for him to pay attention to was uncomfortable to watch. Perhaps the show should start with a smaller number of contestants, which would allow the lead to get to know them better without the awkwardness of group dates.