Why People Are Already Disappointed With The Newest Season's 'Bachelor'

The newest season of The Bachelor dropped on Monday evening and fans are already disappointed with who producers cast for the lead.

Season 26 introduced Bachelor Nation to Clayton Echard, a former football player and contestant from The Bachelorette Season 18. A 28-year-old from Missouri, Echard has already faced backlash not only from the women on his season but viewers around the world.

During the premiere on Monday, Echard faced rejection from not one but two women who arrived looking for love. Within the first 20 minutes of the episode, Echard had already offered out a rose and was rejected by a woman after she expressed interest in leaving.

Viewers quickly took to social media to shout their disdain for the newest lead and comment on his seemingly impulsive decision-making.

"Clayton just tried to give his first impression rose to a girl who was engaged like two weeks ago....on a scale from 1 to Pilot Pete how chaotic is his decision making already," one Twitter user wrote.

Other viewers were quick to mention that Clayton and the new host, Jesse Palmer, bear an uncanny resemblance. Many also pondered why producers on The Bachelor loved casting ex-NFL players as the lead and one viral tweet compared Clayton to the thumb in Spy Kids.

The premiere of the season also led to many viral internet memes and concerned viewers calling out the franchise for once again white-washing the cast after a series of scandals.

"It was the way they ignored our LEGIT displeasure with their bypassing of four AMAZING BLACK MEN to pretend like we're all just being mean to poor Clayton that cemented my choice to stop watching #TheBachelor Lol but fun y'all!" one user tweeted about the season.

"The problem is not that #TheBachelor is white, another user tweeted. "The problem is that ABC passed over so many fan-adored men of color with depth and who made it really far... and instead picked the 8th place guy we don't know or care about just so they could have another bland white man."

This season comes after the drama of Season 25, with the franchise's first Black Bachelor Matt James, and a slew of racial allegations against several contestants as well as Bachelor Nation's beloved host Chris Harrison.

One contestant during James' season, Rachael Kirkconnell, was exposed for attending an "antebellum plantation-themed" fraternity formal in 2018. After photos emerged of Kirkconnell at the party, many former leads from the show called out the franchise for attempting to brush the scandal under the rug.

Fans were also furious at longtime host Harrison for his reaction to the scandal involving Kirkconnell and accused him of defending racist behavior. Petitions were quickly created to have Harrison replaced and in February he decided to step down from his role.