Every ‘Bachelorette’ Season, Ranked: Which Is the Most Dramatic So Far?
Chris Harrison and the ABC production team always like to say that the curent season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is “the most dramatic season ever,” but which one has really earned that title?
Is it currently Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams both being the Bachelorette under the same umbrella season? Was it when Jennifer Schefft rejected both men in the finale? Or Hannah Brown’s post-finale breakup?
We ranked every season of The Bachelorette ever, from least to most dramatic, below.
The Bachelorette, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC
Meredith Phillips (Season 2)
Ian McKee was engaged to Meredith Phillips for just one year, and neither has any ill-feelings or complaints. Why? Because as just the second Bachelorette, Meredith knew she wanted simple dates based around romance and intimacy, not drama or mind games. That approach has made her journey one of the most relaxed in history. The early, quiet season was only nine episodes long but planned dates included love letter writing, compatibility tests and, of course, Hometowns — nothing flashy, nothing out-of-the-book, which is how she claimed to have wanted it.
Desiree Hartsock (Season 9)
A bridal stylist turned wedding dress designer, Desiree Hartsock knew a lot about marriage going into her season. This may have been in her favor, as she is still with the man who proposed to her at the end of her run. Chris Siegfried and Desiree got engaged in 2013, married in 2015, and welcomed their first child in 2016 and their second in 2019. This pair’s success story was not clear-cut: just one episode before Chris’ proposal, Desiree was heartbroken that another contestant, Brooks, whom she admitted to being in love with, sent himself home. Seven years later, though, the couple is rejoicing being together and is thankful that Brooks took himself out of the competition last minute.
Trista Sutter (Season 1)
It’s hard to believe that the very first Bachelorette is still with the man she got engaged to — and married to — on national television because of a reality show. Seventeen years and two children later, Trista Rehn is happily married to Ryan Sutter. This pilot season consisted of only seven episodes, so by week three, 17 of the 25 contestants were sent home by Trista. In that third week, though, the first-ever Bachelorette one-on-one date occurred and it just so happened to be with Ryan. It was a quick season filled with little drama. For Trista and Ryan, there was a lot of love and it has held up to this day.
Rachel Lindsay (Season 13)
In 2017, Rachel Lindsay’s run on The Bachelorette made franchise history as the former lawyer was the first African-American lead in Bachelor Nation. From the get-go, this season was special, because by the second week, guests included Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Rachel and her suitors also traveled everywhere from South Carolina to Sweden. It was towards the end when things heated up as the Bachelorette was honest in her love for all of the men who made it into her final four. Her decision required a lot of thought and even more back-and-forth with the men, her family and her friends. In the end, the history-defining Bachelorette made the long-winded but right decision in accepting Bryan Abasolo’s hand in marriage. The pair got married in 2019 and are going strong.
Jillian Harris (Season 5)
Jillian Harris set two firsts during her 2009 season of The Bachelorette: Not only was she the first to have 30 suitors competing for her heart (as opposed to the previous 25), she was also the first to be a Canada native. Her season consisted of a lot of questioning as to who still had a girlfriend back home during the time of filming. There were weeks of hearsay among the guys, the producers and Jilian regarding these girlfriends, which left both the men and the viewers on edge and lasted all the way until Hometowns. Her engagement to Ed Swiderski lasted about a year.
Ali Fedotowsky (Season 6)
Ali Fedotowsky was one of the first Bachelorettes to confirm the theory that suitors who get the First Impression Rose on the first night make it to the end, as Roberto Martinez received the rose in the first episode and then Ali’s hand in marriage in the last. Roberto was the first Latin-American to win a season of a Bachelor Nation show, but it wasn’t a simple feat, because there was plenty of arguing within the guys’ mansion and a lot of misplaced feelings. During the Fantasy Suites episode, all the way at the end of the season, one of Ali’s men explained that he just realized he was in love with his ex-girlfriend from before filming. A heartbroken, blindsided Ali was left in tears before a later engagement to Roberto, which ended after one year.
Andi Dorfman (Season 10)
By the third week of Andi Dorfman’s season, some men took themselves out of the competition. One was so inebriated he brought Andi to tears and another claimed to have met another woman on the set (he got her phone number). In that time fans were also introduced to Nick Viall for the first time, whose reputation as both a Bachelor Nation and a relationship skeptic preceded him from the one-on-one all the way until the end, when he was the runner-up. A highlight of the show was the cast’s trip to Paris, which meant romance, sailboat rides and mime lessons.
Emily Maynard (Season 8)
Emily Maynard was the second chosen Bachelorette to have essentially won a season of The Bachelor. Although her engagement to Brad Womack ended after the show, a few of the men were worried that it was too soon for her to be a Bachelorette, which played a role in the way men left (or stayed). Regardless, Emily’s southern charm worked magic on many of the guys from night one of her season, which took place in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina (only the second East Coast filming since Season 3). The fact that Emily had a daughter going into the show became a consistent subject of controversy, which kept tensions high — and Emily’s standards impossibly higher. She ended her engagement to Jef Holm shortly after the season.
JoJo Fletcher (Season 12)
As a Bachelorette by day and a real estate developer by night, JoJo Fletcher is one of the latest and greatest success stories to come out of the franchise. Like every season, there were bouts of drama that ruined dates and affected the outcome. One of the most drama-filled highlights was when in the middle of filming her season, JoJo’s ex-boyfriend was featured in a copy of In Touch Weekly. The ex went behind her back to spill secrets and talk about their relationship timeline post-JoJo’s time on Ben Higgins’ season of The Bachelor (she was runner up). In the end, though, no tabloid smear campaign could bring this Bachelorette down as she is still with Jordan Rogers four years after their televised engagement.
Deanna Pappas (Season 4)
In this season of The Bachelorette, viewers were treated to 120-minute episodes each week, as opposed to the previous standard of 60. This allowed for just as much romance to ensue as drama. This was a season of interesting backstories, pre-filming secrets, friendships over relationships and men who may or may not have been taking the Bachelor process seriously. The week of Hometowns was a conglomeration of it all, featuring awkward dinners, curt introductions and a singular heartwarming moment out of the cities she visited with her final four suitors. In the end, Deanna prevailed as one of the more emotionally intelligent and savvy Bachelorettes, even though her engagement to Jesse Csincsak was cut short after filming ended.
Hannah Brown (Season 15)
Hannah Brown found herself during her season of The Bachelorette. While she didn’t end up with Jed Wyatt, to whom she got engaged at the end of her season, she learned from her mistakes and held her own. When she found out that Jed had a girlfriend during the time of filming, she confronted him head-on and broke off their engagement. Unfortunately, although Hannah B. was headstrong during her time on the show, it was her unfortunate hold on the hostile, pot-stirring contestant Luke P. that people continuously questioned week after week until he was finally sent home upon reaching the final four.
Becca Kufrin (Season 14)
Although Becca Kufrin deserved to be the Bachelorette after the tragedy that was her time on The Bachelor, her season lit a fire of controversies because of the men she was set to be dating. The man who got her first impression rose was criticized for liking anti-LGBTQ+ posts on social media, while another contestant was criticized for being invited on the show with sexual misconduct allegations under his belt prior to filming.
The man she chose to get engaged to at the end of the show and her runner-up have both been ridiculed and criticized since the show ended. Garrett Yrigoyen, to whom she was engaged until September 2020, shared controversial opinions on racial events this summer, while runner-up Blake Horstmann admitted to having relations with two different Bachelor Nation alum on the same night during Season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise.
Ashley Hebert (Season 7)
Until recently, Season 7 of The Bachelorette featured one of the fan-favorite success stories. Ashley Hebert was married to J.P. Rosenbaum and the mother to their two children for the last eight years. That being said, her season was a rocky one. Early on in the season, one of the group dates featured a comedy roast of Ashley herself, which left her feeling embarrassed and ridiculed — not a good start for her or the potential suitors. From canceled cocktail parties to tense rose ceremonies to uncomfortable three-on-one dates, Ashley’s season might have been fun and suspenseful to watch, but it was messy all the way until the end, when her family only approved of one of her final two men.
Kaitlyn Bristowe (Season 11)
From Canadian dance instructor to Bachelorette to Dancing With the Stars winner, Kaitlyn Bristowe has had quite an exciting last six years. Her season started off with drama and confusion, as she wasn’t the only Bachelorette. At the time, both Kaitlyn and Britt Nilsson were up for the position and it was up to the 25 contestants to choose with whom they wanted to go forth finding love. It shook up the game from the get-go, so even though she was the one who remained as the Bachelorette, the drama didn’t end there.
The infamous Nick Viall crashed the season not even halfway through to ask for a chance to continue his relationship with the Bachelorette that had begun prior to filming on social media. A new guy who had a history with Kaitlin, who was a former contestant with a bad reputation, joining the mansion was a recipe for disaster. While she didn’t find everlasting love on her season of the reality show, she did find love with a fellow Bachelor alum: she is currently engaged to Jason Tartick, from Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette.
Jennifer Schefft (Season 3)
She left two men at the altar, made history and never looked back. Jennifer Schefft is the only Bachelorette in history to not accept a proposal from any of the men left at the end of the season. It is the way that Jennifer held herself throughout, as well as after, the season that made her memorable. No matter her feelings for a man on the show or one of the contestants she went on a date with, she was adamant that the relationship make sense for her outside of the mansion and the television bubble, which led to her not accepting the finale proposal.
Clare Crawley / Tayshia Adams (Season 16)
Fortunately or unfortunately, there is not a lot to say about Clare Crawley’s Bachelorette journey. Between a global pandemic and love at first sight, her season was cut short after originally being pushed off a few months. Sadly, it didn’t seem as though it was worth the wait due to the fact that she left the show engaged to Dale Moss not even halfway through the season. She had drama with the contestants because of her age, was consistently disregarding the feelings of many of the men because of her connection with Dale, and was generally not using her platform as the Bachelorette as a way to meet new people in an honest and loving fashion. Rumors swirled, tensions peaked, and Tayshia Adams stepped in to make her mark for the rest of the current season.
From making it into the finale of Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor to striking up a seemingly long-term relationship with John Paul Jones on Bachelor in Paradise, Tayshia has seen her fair share of televised relationship ups and downs. Regardless of whether or not that prepared her to suddenly replace Clare, Tayshia has already made it her own. While the men in the house have had a few riffs between themselves so far, she has made it her mission to squash it all before it gets out of hand, not lead men on and have conversations about real social, cultural and personal topics. After Clare and in 2020, it’s been refreshing, to say the least, for Bachelor Nation.
