Whatever plans you’ve got for your Wednesday evening, I suggest you can them ASAP because tonight marks a huge moment in reality television history: our first-ever Indigenous and bisexual lead in The Bachelorette, queen Brooke Blurton, makes her way onto our screens.
Ahead of the highly anticipated The Bachelorette premiere this evening, Brooke chatted to PEDESTRIAN.TV about the groundbreaking work that went on behind-the-scenes.
“This season has already achieved a shift in the franchise,” Brooke began. “It’s not looking at a heteronormative show. We’re exploring different ways of loving and different ways of how love is perceived, and I think the biggest thing is that it’s not just one male and one female.”
She went on to reveal that Ten hired an Inclusivity Consultant and a First Nations Consultant to ensure that the season was produced as respectfully as possible.
“I feel really proud to be part of that progression because I’m always educating myself and learning about the new terminologies and the new lingo and I think this season, having had an Inclusivity Consultant and a First Nations Consultant really helped get everyone on the same page so that I could feel the most comfortable with being myself,” she said.
So what exactly is a First Nations and an Inclusivity Consultant?
“They’re basically catching everyone up and getting everyone up to speed with everything to do with the LGBTQIA+ community and the First Nations community,” Brooke explained. “Because I need to know personally as a protagonist and as a driver in this that I feel safe to be myself and not have to worry about these things.”
She went on to praise “the staff, the crew and the network [who] all put in the work so that I can just be Brooke.”
“It just goes to show that this wasn’t something that we just put together at the last minute, there was a lot of work put in and I’m hugely grateful to production and the network because they invested in this, they invested in me and 1) We’re breaking down barriers, 2) I got my happily ever after, and 3) Australia is actually going to love this!”
The Bachelorette Australia 2021 kicks off tonight at 7:30pm on Ten.
