If the “Bachelor Nation” didn’t already have enough boundary-pushing going for it, the spin-off show “Bachelor In Paradise” will be making waves by exploring sexual fluidity among one of the contestants.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, contestant Demi Burnett came out “queer” on social media prior to the show airing and will be exploring love with a woman during season six.
“I have been kind of seeing someone. Of course — plot twist — it happens to be a woman,” Burnett told “Bachelorette” contestant Hannah Brown during a chat on Monday night. “It’s not something that I need to label, so I feel like I don’t have to proclaim that I am gay, I am straight, I am bisexual, I am this. I just like who I like. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, it’s the person.”
“It’s been really confusing. It’s this constant indecisiveness in me and I just feel like the only way for me to truly know what I want and how I want to love and who I want to love is if I try out Paradise,” she continued.
Hannah Brown, the openly Christian “Bachelorette” star who famously rejected a Christian man over their disagreements about pre-marital sex, later praised Burnett for coming out as queer.
“I’m so proud of Demi,” Hannah told Entertainment Tonight. “I am proud of just how strong of a woman that she is and how she is so brave to be able to kind of step into the unknown that the Bachelor franchise has never really put on display. … She is being so courageous to tell her truth and to show all different sides of who she is and what she believes love is and to be able to explore that.”
“I am glad that I was able to be able to be a part of that conversation and show my support and love for her because I am supportive of whatever makes Demi happy,” she continued.
From the looks of it, Burnett’s appearance on the show will be full of twists and turns. At first, she will be showing romantic interest in the male contestant Derek Peth, which will then eventually come to a head when she reveals her love for a woman.
“The teasers for the rest of the season show Burnett kissing the unidentified woman she spoke to Brown about on the Paradise beach and crying to a friend while saying, ‘You can’t help who you love,'” reports THR. “But Burnett has also been included among the teaser montage for the finale proposals and the show is promoting Burnett’s unfolding journey on its official Twitter account.”
“Bachelor in Paradise” works according to a different format than either “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette.” The show, which aired in 2014, allows former contestants of both shows to compete for romance over the course of several weeks on a romantic island, with new people being added in and eliminated every week to increase the drama.
The arrival of Demi Burnett on the show has earned the praise of LGBTQ activists, who proclaim that she is “breaking Bachelor glass ceilings.”