The former 'Bachelorette' was hopeful she'd see the franchise's first black 'Bachelor' this year.
Rachel Lindsay has some thoughts on Peter Weber's Bachelor casting.
The 28-year-old pilot was announced as the next franchise lead on Tuesday night's season six finale of Bachelor in Paradise -- leaving many fans upset the franchise didn't choose to cast Mike Johnson, who would have been the first black Bachelor. While speaking with ET's Melicia Johnson on Tuesday, Lindsay said she shared fans' frustrations.
"I think Peter seems like a very nice guy. He seems lovely. This is absolutely nothing against him, but how many Peters have we seen before? What season are we on? 24. So, we've seen 24 Peters. I'm bored. And it's nothing personal against him," Lindsay said.
The newlywed -- who was the first black Bachelorette in 2017 -- said she's sure Weber's season will be "great." But that doesn't take away from her disappointment over the franchise's lack of diversity.
"For the first time, I was very confident that we were going to see our first black Bachelor," she explained. "And so if no one else is going to speak on it, then I guess it's my duty to say it."
Johnson was cut from Hannah Brown's Bachelorette season just one week before hometown dates, but won fans over for his vibrant personality, leadership and love for his family. A source recently told ET that the 31-year-old Air Force vet had been on a date with Demi Lovato, but earlier this summer, he was single.
"I want to be hopeful, but when you have a contestant like Mike Johnson, who seems to check all the boxes, how is he not the Bachelor? I don't understand," Lindsay said. "I'm sure they have some reason for not picking him, and I'm going to trust in that, but at the same time, the system isn't working in giving us a Bachelor who is a person of color. So we need to change the system. Something has to be done. Break the rules, step outside the box, give the people what they want!"
Weber is half-Cuban, but as Lindsay notes, he looks a lot like Bachelors past. The franchise aired their first season featuring a Hispanic Bachelor, Juan Pablo Galavis, in 2014. As Lindsay notes, Weber's background and preferences will influence his pool of contestants, which then become the contenders for the next Bachelorette.
"The Bachelor is in charge of saying what they're interested in and what they're not. Some people don't know that -- they do ask you," Lindsay revealed. "You've seen some of the girls that Peter's dated. It came out before, his girlfriend was in the news from the past, before Hannah. So, you know what his type is at this point. And so, I expect girls to look more like Hannah than they do like me or someone else of color."
Looking at the positives from Weber's season, Lindsay said that his openness is key. "Then when you saw his family, you saw they were so lovely, and they want him to find love, and he's a person who gives his all in relationships. That's the takeaway that I got. So, I'm very excited that he'll be open. And part of being the Bachelor is getting other people to open up about their relationships, and I think he'll be really good at that," she expressed.
"What I will say [to him] is, ignore the noise, including the noise that I'm giving. He's going to be a fantastic Bachelor. People just need to get over the fact that we thought something was going to happen that didn't happen," Lindsay said. "But once he ignores all that, just be yourself, be open to love, and you can't lose."
Lindsay found love on her season of The Bachelorette, and married her final pick, Bryan Abasolo, last month. She's now hosting MTV's new series, Ghosted: Love Gone Missing, which airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
See more in the video below.
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