What happened to Alex Michel after The Bachelor? A lot of it is speculation because Alex (wisely) decided to leave the spotlight after the show and move on with his life.
He was the first lead, the tone-setter for what the show would ultimately become. Since 2002, the show has not really changed. At all. It has succeeded in choosing a formula that attracts a large audience and sticking with it, while ignoring social and cultural evolutions that have taken place since the premiere. Alex was the prototypical Bachelor lead. He was tall, had a good job and a boring personality. There was nothing about him that particularly leapt off the screen. But he was successful. And, most importantly, he was white. Yeah, we're going there. While there were women of color on the first season, the show made it clear from the jump that it was a series that only showed certain love stories. If you weren't straight and white, this show wasn't for you. Alex was also the first to prove that The Bachelor as an experiment doesn't work. He didn't propose to Amanda Marsh - the final woman - and the two broke up soon thereafter. That is more the norm nowadays on the show, as the veneer of true love has worn thin year after year.
Yet still people watch, at an astounding rate. And as The Bachelor - The Greatest Seasons - Ever! airs its final episode, paying homage to the first Bachelor and first Bachelorette, Trista Sutter - the runner-up on Alex's season on Monday, some fans may wonder: what happened to Alex? Us Weekly reports that Alex is single. And his LinkedIn indicates that he is a digital media executive based in Washington, D.C.
Whether or not he will be watching along on Monday - or if Chris Harrison has finally managed to track him down - remains to be seen. It's likely for the best that he's remained elusive from the franchise. As the show reckons with its own responsibility in portraying diverse love stories, there's likely not much that Alex could contribute to the dialogue. While it is nice to catch up with old leads of The Bachelor and Bachelorette, Chris Harrison thinks we're a lot more curious than we actually are to learn what Alex is up to.
It'll be an interesting experiment to watch back the first season on Monday, if simply to comprehend how little the show has implemented the necessary shifts it should have made over the years. Alex hasn't been The Bachelor since 2002, but they've been giving us an Alex every year, more or less, every year since. The decision to cast Matt James as the lead in 2021 is a start. Let's hope the show takes the steps it needs to in order to appeal to a broader audience.
Source: Us Weekly, Alex Michel