Reality TV
There’s A Better Way For The Bachelor To Cast Siblings
The show has learned all the wrong lessons from past seasons.
Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season began with its share of sweet moments, “can I steal him for a sec?” drama, and the return of a pesky Bachelor Nation tradition: siblings trying to date the same guy.
Philadelphia-based sisters Lauren, 28, and Allison Hollinger, 26, initially tried to keep their connection a secret before eventually telling Joey and their fellow contestants. The Season 28 lead voiced why he was worried about the development.
“I’m having a hard enough time thinking about dating 32 women at once, let alone sisters,” he told the camera. “I’m going to have to take this a little bit more carefully because there’s a lot of problems that can come along with that.”
Instead of having a lead contend with such an awkward dilemma, maybe it’s time for The Bachelor to change its most contrived casting practice.
A Messy Franchise Tradition
This isn’t the first time Bachelor Nation has cast siblings in the same season. Twins Emily and Haley Ferguson are probably the most well-known pair. Both looked for love on Ben Higgins’ Bachelor season in 2016 and Bachelor in Paradise before marrying men outside of the franchise altogether.
More recently, Justin and Joey Young competed on Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia’s joint Bachelorette season in 2022, then had a stint on Paradise themselves.
So far, none of the sibling stunt casting has led to a lasting relationship — and sometimes things get Disney-Channel-sitcom-level weird, like when Emily and Haley switched places to test the savvy of a potential suitor.
Putting Drama Over Love
Sure, pulling a sibling switcheroo is kind of funny! But it’s probably not conducive to a real-life connection. With the franchise’s recent misses (zero couples from Bachelor in Paradise Season 9 are still together, for example), it seems like there should be more investment in solid relationships.
That isn’t to say Lauren and Allison are unserious. There’s a hypothetical version of this season where they’re given the space to be individuals, without their relationship being treated as a shtick. (Their official Bachelor occupations include being each other’s sister.) But The Bachelor’s dating format is already, by necessity, so removed from real life. Layering another gimmick on top of the whole rose-filled journey sets up both Joey and the sisters to fail. Why would he earnestly pursue a relationship where someone’s almost guaranteed to get hurt, when he could just pick one of the other 30 women?
Bachelor Siblings With A Twist?
With all that being said, there’s obviously something compelling about siblings in the TV dating world. It’s fun to pick teams and see what your preference says about you — are you a Conrad or Jeremiah girl? Damon or Stefan?
But for the sibling love triangle to translate well to reality dating, it’s not fair to have the pair fight over the same person. Perhaps the franchise can take a cue from Gabby and Rachel’s season: Cast dual leads and have them date their own respective pools of suitors. Their season was most interesting when the suitors had to decide which Bachelorette they felt a closer connection with. That way, you’d get some tension while still giving each sibling a fairer shot at finding a match.
Plus, can you imagine the discourse? The endless discussions with friends about why you’d choose the soft-spoken educator over, like, his free-wheeling artist brother? (I’m getting trope-y, but you get the idea.) Anyway, ABC, call me!
