The inaugural season of The Bachelorette Canada came an end this past Tuesday (Nov. 22) and the drama spilled over…
Bachelorette Jasmine Lorimer chose firefighter Kevin Wendt over aviation engineer Mikhel Sikhand, disappointing not only Mikhel, but an entire nation.
Over the course of two months, Mikhel became a fan-favourite with many cheering for him on social media. So what happened when Mikhel didn’t win? Backlash. Jasmine faced substantial criticism on social media during and after the show’s finale.
All scheduled press interviews that were to take place on Wednesday were abruptly cancelled in the early morning.
Sure, she picked Kevin but she didn’t deserve to be called out the way she was.
Or could there be more to the cancellation? Could she and Kevin already be over? During the “After the Final Rose,” portion of this week’s finale, Jasmine confessed to host Noah Cappe that her relationship with Kevin hasn’t been smooth sailing. “Kevin and I have had our conflicts and everything. You can see that in the season, and it’s continued here and there afterwards.”
ET Canada reports that there is tension between Jasmine and Kevin’s families – with a source telling them that the interaction between Jasmine’s mother Linda and Kevin’s mother Jill has been “icy” and “cold.” Another source even claims that the two mothers had a “verbal fight.”
I guess we have to chalk this one up to “time will tell.” But you know what we can discuss? How about how far a person of colour made it on a television dating competition.
Mikhel, whose parents are from India, made it to runner-up. That’s huge. Especially considering the amount of flack this show was receiving ahead of its premiere on the whole diversity issue.
While many producers would have loved to play the diversity card and highlight something that’s never been done in Canada or the U.S., it was simply a non-factor on screen and rightly so. Although, I would have liked to see Jasmine, Mikhel and their families discuss the cultural differences – because those conversations certainly do exit.
Mikhel proved so popular that many are hoping he’d be the next Bachelor. Not happening from what I hear. He’s moved on, telling ET Canada “Being on TV for one season was more than enough for me.”
The fact that Mikhel made it that far and the audience wanted to see him as the Bachelor is comforting given the amount of racial hate that has surfaced in the U.S. and Canada in recent weeks following the American Presidential Election.
Mikhel may not have received the final rose on The Bachelorette Canada, but he definitely came out as the winner.
