‘The Bachelor’ Franchise Needs To Stop Stunt Casting Siblings — Especially TWINS!

It’s been more than two decades since The Bachelor premiered, despite the series completely elevating the reality TV romance game, in recent years, longtime fans have expressed fatigue over the franchise’s numerous scandals, stale show structure, and reluctance to embrace significant change. The future of Bachelor Nation looked undeniably brighter after the massively popular senior spinoff, The Golden Bachelor, premiered in 2023. But if the franchise wants to continue thriving, it’s going to have to freshen up its flagship shows, too — and no, we don’t mean by casting more sibling contestants.

Since Bachelor Nation alum Jesse Palmer landed the coveted hosting gig in 2021, the franchise has tried to spice up The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise by casting dual Bachelorette leads, letting viewers give out a Bachelor first impression rose, and even introducing a short-lived Love Island-style “Split Week” in Paradise. I suppose it’s a hopeful sign that those failed attempts to excite viewers have yet to be repeated, but one straight-up baffling strategy the franchise continues to employ is stunt casting siblings — be it brothers, sisters, or even TWINS — on the same season, and letting them date…the same person.

Ahead of The Bachelor Season 28, which premieres on ABC January 22, ABC announced the 32 women who’ll be competing for lead Joey Graziadei’s love. Upon perusing the cast, I was excited to get to know the diverse group of women, ages 24 to 31. But the second I learned that Allison (26) and Lauren Hollinger (28), a pair of sisters from Philadelphia, were cast alongside each other I groaned so incredibly hard, because Bachelor Nation has been here before, and we don’t need to go here again! Casting siblings never ends well within the series, and in our year 2024 the franchise should quit trying to make unnecessary family drama happen.

Members of Bachelor Nation who tuned in for Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia’s duel Bachelorette season (or Paradise Season 8) may recall Joey and Justin Young — two 24-year-old twins from Brookfield, Connecticut — who had a largely unmemorable run within the franchise. They arrived at the mansion together, talked about being twins, and were eliminated Night 1, only to later arrive in Paradise and leave alone (er, should I say together) again. Though the brothers shared an incredible lack of chemistry with the Bachelorette leads, their casting made the most sense of any siblings in Bachelor history, because at least they had the unique opportunity to share a show while dating two completely separate women.

When the franchise casts sisters who are pursuing the same love interest — like Emily and Haley Ferguson (twins on Ben Higgins’ season of The Bachelor) or Samantha and Leona (twins on Bob Guiney’s Bachelor season) — that’s when the ick factor really rises. As an only child, I’ll admit I’ve never had to consider the possibility of dating the same person as a sibling or how that might feel. But if I had a sibling, I genuinely can’t imagine a scenario in which I’d like our romantic partners to overlap?!

Aside from all the ugly competition, emotional turmoil, and awkward moments that could result from dating the same person as your sibling, the sheer idea of swapping spit with someone who just made out with your blood relative makes me cringe. The Hollinger sisters who signed up to simultaneously smooch our boy Joey G, however, seem just fine with it! In fact, per their official Bachelor bios, the two are best friends “have dated the same guy before (at different times).” Hmmm… It’s giving “we want to be famous” more than “we want to fall in love.”

Considering siblings rarely make it far into their Bachelor seasons (Reality Steve doesn’t name a Hollinger sis in Joey’s rumored final three) I imagine there’s a certain level of discomfort for leads tasked with dating siblings well. Juggling dozens of contestants’ emotions is challenging enough without having to worry about the added weight of a delicate sibling dynamic. And considering the franchise hasn’t produced anything close to the dramatic sibling love triangles fans of scripted series like The Summer I Turned Pretty and My Life With The Walter Boys salivate over in all these years, I can’t help but wonder why the painfully awkward brother and sister casting continues.

We’ll have to wait and see how Allison, Lauren, and Joey navigate their manufactured (most likely messy!) love triangle when Season 28 kicks off later this month. Even if the siblings emerge from the show relatively unscathed with hearts and familial relationships still in tact, I challenge the franchise to quit stunt casting siblings in future seasons. Get some new (less weird) tricks up your sleeve!

The Bachelor Season 28 premieres on ABC Monday, January 22 with next-day streaming on Hulu.