The new season of the dating reality show debuted on Wednesday night to just 397,000 viewers (5-city metro) – losing easily to Nine juggernaut The Block, which attracted an audience of 851,000.However, it wasn’t all bad news for Ten. While The Bachelorette ranked a dismal 14th for the night in “all people” ratings, it was a popular choice for younger viewers. It ranked second in the 18-49 demographic and first for viewers aged 16-39.The dire overall ratings may come as a surprise to some, given the excitement around Bachelor fan favourite Brooke Blurton’s return to the franchise.Brooke, who first won hearts as a contestant vying for Nick Cummins’ heart on the 2018 season, has made history with her casting as the first Indigenous and bisexual Bachelorette.But the shockingly small audience that watched her meet all her potential new partners last night may well have been part of a larger Bachelor/Bachelorette fatigue.The 2021 season of The Bachelor, starring pilot Jimmy Nicholson, premiered in July to a dismal 482,000 viewers from metro cities across the country, barely scraping into the top 20 TV shows of the night.Prior to last night’s abysmal numbers, the premiere of last year’s Bachelorette duo Elly and Becky Miles’ love story had drawn the lowest audience on record with 628,000 viewers, a significant drop from the 716,000 viewers who tuned in to watch Angie Kent’s season debut in 2019.Ali Oetjen’s 2018 stint on The Bachelorette premiered to 631,000 viewers.Despite the dwindling ratings in recent years, Ten announced just yesterday that The Bachelorette has been renewed for 2022.The Bachelorette Australia airs Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm on Network 10.
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