Entertainment

Rachel's Dad May Not Be On 'The Bachelorette'

Bill Matlock/ABC

Rachel Lindsay is the next Bachelorette, and with that comes a whole host of responsibilities. She has to vet 25 (well, by the time her season starts, the numbers will probably be up to 45) men in order to choose just one to take home for the rest of her life. She also has to manage expectations, deal with drama between the men (and there is always drama between the men, gender stereotypes be damned), and convince her family to be on the show for the final dates. He wasn’t on her hometown date on The Bachelor, but will Rachel’s dad be on The Bachelorette?

It’s clear from her time on The Bachelor that Rachel really loves her dad, Sam Lindsay. She’s described herself as a total “daddy’s girl,” and any man that Rachel has intentions of marrying has to be approved by her family, and especially her dad. I get it — if you’re close with your family (as it seems like Rachel is), you want them to accept your partner. It seems like her family has accepted her being on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but I’m not sure that Mr. Lindsay will appear on The Bachelorette, no matter how much he wants to. Why? He’s a federal judge.

There is no law saying that a federal judge cannot show up on reality television (believe me, I did a whole bunch of Googling to find that one out), but it could seem improper for a person with such a high-integrity job to be on a show like The Bachelorette. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love his daughter, but perhaps if Mr. Lindsay did decide to be on The Bachelor, it could make him seem showy or dishonest or whatever — you never know what people will think or how the show will edit things, and, as a judge, you have to be seen as impartial at all times. Rachel has said that her father takes his job very seriously, so I can’t see how he wouldn’t consider all of this.

The complication is this — I can see Mr. Lindsay not showing up on The Bachelor on-camera because it’s one date. One hometown date, and the whole rest of the family is there. Whatever! No big deal! She’s got a 25 percent chance of being chosen anyway, and we all know she wasn’t. But as the Bachelorette, Rachel is going to pick someone. If she chooses, she has a 100 percent chance of bringing home a husband, and I’m sure the producers would like some footage of Rachel’s highly intimidating (as she says) “daddy” meeting Mr. Maybe-Could-Be-Right. That’s good television!

It doesn't seem illegal for a judge like Mr. Lindsay to be on television, but he may be meeting his daughter’s Bachelorette suitors off-camera —like he did with Nick.