Emmanuel Acho Named As New Host Of ‘The Bachelor’

ABC’s Bachelor Nation has found a new host! Emmanuel Acho, a former player with the Philadelphia Eagles, announced on Saturday (Feb. 27) that he is scheduled to host The Bachelor: After the Final Rose special slated to air on Monday (March 15). 

Acho, 30, who could hardly contain his excitement in his social media announcement, is host of the YouTube series “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.” 

“I’ve accepted the Rose and am honored to be hosting the @bachelorabc After the Final Rose this year,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “It’s been a pivotal season, and this episode will hopefully be one of the most storied shows in TV history. Empathy is needed and change is coming. Share the news! I’ll see y’all then!”

RELATED: ‘The Bachelor’ Casts First Black Lead Matt James After Years of Backlash

Acho takes the reins after the franchise was hit with a smouldering controversy. On Feb. 13, original Bachelor Nation host, Chris Harrison, announced plans to “stepping aside” from the ABC franchise after he was slammed with backlash for defending alleged racism surrounding current contestant on The Bachelor, Rachael Kirkconnell. 

RELATED: Matt James Speaks On ‘The Bachelor’ Racism Controversy

This is the 25th season of ABC’s popular reality dating franchise and it is the first in which ABC has cast a Black man, Matt James, the first Black Bachelor in the show’s history.

RELATED: ‘The Bachelor’ Casts First Black Lead Matt James After Years of Backlash

During an interview on Extra with the first Black Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, Harrison defended social media photos of Kirkconnell who was reportedly photographed at an antebellum plantation-themed fraternity formal in 2018.  

Harrison apologized for speaking out on behalf of Kirkconnel on Feb. 10 and said that his “intentions were simply to ask for grace in offering her an opportunity to speak on her behalf.” 

Acho will sit down with James during The Final Rose episode “to discuss his season, his final decision and where he is now, as well as cover the current events about the franchise,” ABC said in a press release, CNN reports.