The 25th season of ABC’s reality romance hit, The Bachelor, premiered on Jan. 4. The new season has already proven immensely popular among the School’s students and faculty. The season premiere started off strong with the high-energy introduction of Matt James, the 25th Bachelor. Not only is James the first African-American Bachelor, but he is also one of the few Bachelors to never have participated in a similar series of the Bachelor trilogy such as The Bachelorette or Bachelor in Paradise.

Fans watched James have a discussion with his mother, Patty James, during which he revealed his worries about being vulnerable to a large number of people as well as the pressure he feels from being the first Black Bachelor. These revelations allowed the fans to forge an emotional rather than superficial connection with James, one based on heart rather than appearance.

The episode then progressed to offering a brief look into the lives of some of the girls who will be competing for James’ heart. By doing this, fans are able to relate to some of the women before the focus shifts to James in the mansion.

The producers also used this opportunity to show how they are handling COVID-19 by having the girls summarize their quarantine experiences before the show began.

Next, the 32 women individually met James. Some girls were given more screen time while meeting him than others, which made fans feel like some women were looked over and did not seem as significant as others.

The season premiere set up the drama for the rest of the season by showing the attitudes of the women and how they truly interact with each other. Women competing for one man’s heart are bound to be at each other’s throats.

This season of the show has a record-breaking number of contestants, which has made the show seem slightly less intimate as watchers feel lost in the sea of women circling James. If there were fewer women, fans would be able to get to know the contestants better earlier on in the season.

Whether students are playing the show in the Didsbury Learning Commons or simply debriefing the wild events that occurred with their peers and teachers, talk of this year’s season is rapidly circling the community; however, this season’s ratings have reached a new low for the series. The season premiere pulled a 1.3 rating with a mere view count of five million viewers

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Senior Hailie Miller is a proud member of “Bachelor Nation” and looks forward to each episode on Monday nights; Miller also brings the show into her school routine.

“I love walking into study hall and being able to rewatch parts of the previous episode with other students and sometimes Mrs. Hewitt in the cube of the DLC or emailing Dr. Haley on Monday nights to make sure he watched before voicing my opinions on the events of each episode,” said Miller.

Science department chair Dr. James Haley also looks forward to discussing the show with his students.

“I always enjoy discussing the episodes with the many students that watch the show as well. It is a fun opportunity to connect on a topic that clearly falls outside the school’s curriculum,” said Dr. Haley

The 25th season of The Bachelor will definitely be one filled with drama, tears, but most importantly, love.

You can binge-watch older episodes of The Bachelor on Hulu or keep up on with new entries on Monday nights at 8 on ABC.