海角大神

The producers of ABC's "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" are always chasing drama 鈥� just not when it involves them.

Season 20 of "The Bachelor," starring 27-year-old Ben Higgins, aired its finale Monday night, with Higgins choosing contestant Lauren Bushnell over Jojo Fletcher.聽

Jubilee Sharpe, the 24-year-old African American war veteran from Florida, seemed to be liked by fans 鈥� and by Ben 鈥� early in the season, but the show (whether in reality or through editing) quickly turned against her.

鈥淎 Black woman being vulnerable and awkward is something that is ,鈥� Nichelle Stephens writes for Medium. 鈥淗owever, it was stressful watching the episode.鈥� The 鈥渞acial microaggressions鈥� directed at Jubilee from the other female contestants contradicted any added value from Jubilee鈥檚 "realness" as a contestant, argues Stephens.聽

Some contestants on recent seasons have openly questioned their status as the show鈥檚 鈥榯oken minority.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy to think that the first thing people are gonna recognize about me is, 鈥極k, he鈥檚 a black guy.鈥� And that鈥檚 the reality of it,鈥� Marquel Martin, a fan favorite on the 10th聽season of "The Bachelorette," starring Andi Dorfman, says to the camera during the show. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like, 鈥楬ey, that dude鈥檚 a good dude, he was respectful, I鈥檓 sure he was raised right, I鈥檓 sure he has strong beliefs.鈥� It would be nice to not be seen as just, 鈥�.鈥欌赌澛�

After Martin was eliminated by the bachelorette in episode five, social media began campaigning for the 28-year-old salesman to be the star of the next season of "The Bachelor."

鈥淣ot only does having a more diverse cast make for far more interesting television, but the outpouring of social media love for Marquel over the last few episodes proves that a man of color as "The Bachelor" is ,鈥� remarks Emma Gray, Women鈥檚 Editor at The Huffington Post.

But fellow contestant Chris Soules, the 33-year-old farmer from Iowa, won the title, starring in season 19 of "The Bachelor."

鈥淭he most important and obvious elephant in the room that remains to be an underlying concern for some, is the question of will there ever be a black 鈥楤achelor鈥� or 鈥楤achelorette鈥�?鈥� Martin writes in a blog post shortly after his friend Soules was selected. 鈥淟et me be clear, I鈥檓 not trying to be that guy. But I鈥檇 be lying to myself and the world if I didn鈥檛 say that I feel like .鈥澛�

And in recent seasons, some observers have noted what they say ABC's self-deprecating openness about the show鈥檚 inherent racism.

鈥淚t鈥檚 apparent that this season 鈥楾he Bachelor鈥� made a choice to play up the coded comments made about Jubilee by other contestants ,鈥� says The Huffington Post鈥檚 Claire Fallon. 鈥淭he production team have more than enough material to work with, and in the past, as black contestants faded or burned out, there鈥檚 been reason to wonder whether the show wasn鈥檛 obscuring in-house bigotry or other pressures that contributed to their emotional twists and turns.鈥�

But it鈥檚 unclear whether this attitude is voluntary, considering the highly-publicized class action lawsuit against the show鈥檚 producers in 2012.聽

Two African American "Bachelor" wannabes from Nashville , accusing the show and its producers of intentionally excluding people of color from lead roles. While a judge called the plantiffs' efforts 鈥榣audable,鈥� she also deemed their lawsuit invalid because casting decisions are protected are under the First Amendment.聽

In 2011, there were no minority candidates in either "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette." And in 2012, the shows had one and two minority candidates, respectively.聽

After the lawsuit, of minority candidates 鈥� six 鈥� on both of the shows. But all subsequent seasons have dipped back down between one and three minority candidates, suggesting the show is falling back into its old patterns.聽

ABC executives have spent the last few months promising viewers that the next star of the show would be "diverse," but it was announced Monday night that runner-up JoJo Fletcher would be the next "Bachelorette."