feature image photos: photo of Truc Nhu and Minh Thu via The Bachelor Vietnam; photo of Jaimi King via Jaimi’s Instagram; photo of Alexa Caves via Alexa’s Instagram; photo of Jasmine Goode by Jasmine’s Instagram; photo of Becca Tilley by Variety / Contributor; photo of Gabby Windey by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
I feel I must confess: I am not a member of Bachelor Nation. I have many friends who are in this community and consider myself an ally to it. Once, I watched an episode of The Bachelorette with a bunch of queer people and was shocked by how much queer subtext it contained but then was informed it wasn’t typical for there to be two Bachelorettes at once, which was a bummer to me personally because that dynamic was so fascinating!!!!! But recently, I was introduced to Jasmine Goode, a former Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise contestant who now appears on the Bravo series The Valley and who is bisexual. I knew about Becca Tilley already, of course. I decided to investigate just how many queer women have been a part of the often aggressively hetero world of The Bachelor and its various spinoffs. By expanding it to include international versions of the franchise, I was really able to grow this list!
Gabby Windey
Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
In August 2023, Gabby Windey came out when talking about her girlfriend, comedian Robby Hoffman, on The View. She participated in season 26 of The Bachelor, competing for Clayton Echard’s rose. While she did not “win,” she made it to the final round and was part of one of the larger twists in Bachelor Nation history when Clayton rejected both finalists.
Her coming out was a full circle moment for me, as Gabby and her fellow rejectee Rachel Recchia were the pair who went on to be the stars of The Bachelorette‘s first ever double-lead season. Turns out I’d been picking up on more than just subtext!
She had this to say on The View when opening up about her sexuality:
“I’ve had such an amazing experience with my time on Bachelor and Bachelorette dating all those men. That’s how people know me. I always want to live my truth and my story. So I have been seeing someone for a couple months and I’ve been keeping it a little more private because it is a bigger story and a bigger conversation because I’m dating a girl.”
Becca Tilley
Before becoming Lesbian Jesus Hayley Kiyoko’s girlfriend, Becca Tilley was the runner-up on season 19 of The Bachelor. After much speculation on their relationship, the couple confirmed they’d been together for four years in 2021. The announcement came shortly after Tilley appeared in a queer Bachelor parody-themed music video for Kiyoko’s “For the Girls.”
Elizabeth Corrigan
Corrigan was in the same season of The Bachelor as Gabby Windey and also came out as queer! She came out as bisexual in an Instagram post during Pride month in 2022 (classic!).
“It’s important to me today to share with you all that I am queer,” the caption to the coming out post reads. “More specifically I am, always have been, and always will be-bisexual.”
Demi Burnett
Originally appearing on season 23 of The Bachelor, Demi Burnett actually came out on television during her stint on Bachelor in Paradise. When on The Bachelor, Burnett was competing for Colton Underwood’s rose, and Colton himself is part of Bachelor Nation’s queer history, as he’s the first Bachelor lead to come out as gay.
Self-described queer queen Burnett discussed her bisexuality in the premiere episode of her season of Bachelor in Paradise, coming out to recent Bachelorette Hannah Brown by sharing about the woman she has been seeing back home.
On Instagram, Burnett has recently been very open about her autism and ADHD diagnoses.
Alexa Caves
In January 2020, The Bachelor season 24 contestant Alexa Caves posted to her Instagram story about her sexuality shortly after being eliminated in week three of the competition. “I’m fluid. I’ve been with women and I’ve been with men. I’m open-minded,” she wrote.
Jasmine Goode
The Bachelor season 21 and Bachelor in Paradise season four alum Jasmine Goode introduced viewers to her girlfriend Melissa Marie on The Valley recently, but the pair have been making LGBTQ content on a shared TikTok for some time now. Goode identifies as bisexual.
Jaimi King
The Bachelor season 21 alum Jaimi King came out on the show, sharing about a woman she had previously dated. It was the very first time a contestant had come out as queer in an actual episode of The Bachelor. Fans were quick to call her bisexual, and while King is okay with that, though she told Refinery29 she has never really liked labels.
Kaitlyn Bristowe
Kaitlyn Bristowe competed on the 19th season of The Bachelor and revealed on a podcast that while she knew she was bisexual, she was advised to withhold the information from producers. She went on to be the lead in a season of The Bachelorette.
Krisily Kennedy
Photo by Beck Starr/FilmMagic
In 2005, Krisily Kennedy made it to the final two on season seven of The Bachelor before finishing as the runner-up. Then, in 2011, she came out as bisexual. She even was interviewed by Autostraddle!
Brooke Blurton
Now, we move over to Australia, where an offshoot of The Bachelorette featured Brooke Blurton, a queer Noongar-Yamatji woman, in its titular role. Blurton has spoken out about the biphobia she experienced from viewers.
Abbie Chatfield
Also coming out of the Australian version of The Bachelor is Abbie Chatfield, who came out as bisexual on Bachelor in Paradise in 2020 but has since preferred to identify as queer. She has spoken out about internalized homophobia as well as bi erasure before.
Megan Marx & Tiffany Scanlon
While they are no longer together, Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon ended up falling in love with each other while both contestants in Australia’s version of The Bachelor. This should happen more often in my opinion!
Brooke Cleal
What is going on with The Bachelor Australia?! Also from that realm is Brooke Cleal, who was the runner-up of her season. This past August, she debuted a new queer relationship! Her girlfriend, Alyssa Viktoria, was hard launched on Instagram. They post lots of cute pics together like the one above!
Minh Thu & Truc Nhu
Truc Nhu/Minh Thu / Via The Bachelor Vietnam
The Bachelor Vietnam is already automatically my favorite international version of the franchise for the reason of Minh Thu and Truc Nhu alone. Like Megan and Tiffany of Australia, they left the show and ended up together — but they did it ON THE SHOW.
“I went into this competition to find love—and I’ve found that love for myself, but it isn’t with you,” Minh Thu told Bachelor Nguyen Quoc Trung as she was being eliminated from the show. “It’s with someone else.”
She then walked straight to Truc Nhu. And then they left TOGETHER!
Six months later, they were still together, though I haven’t been able to find evidence as to whether they’re still a couple. Regardless, an iconic queer twist!
Brooke Blurton was on a bisexual season of The Bachelorette so all the women contestants on that season were queer! So Holly Langford, Jamie-Lee Dayz, Millie Rubio, Taje Fowler, Jessica Debono, Carissa Croft, Jess Franklin, Emily Bebbington, Bec Pressing, and Ritu Chhina. All queer! Some of them even dated each other after!