The Bachelorette's Premiere Goes Silent: Viewers Left Screaming at Soundless Debut of Jenn Tran
The Bachelorette’s season 21 premiere featuring Jenn Tran, the show’s first-ever Asian American lead, turned into a silent movie on Monday night. Frustrated fans were left fuming as audio issues sabotaged the much-anticipated episode.
As Jenn Tran, the 26-year-old physician assistant from Hillsdale, New Jersey, made her debut, viewers could only hear the background music, leaving social media ablaze with complaints. It seemed like all major streaming platforms, including YouTube TV, the ABC App, Fubo, and Hulu, were hit by the glitch.
One exasperated fan on X wrote, "Hello Bachelorette, I am watching from Denver, CO on Hulu TV. There is no audio for the dialogue. We can hear the background music, and the talking on commercials. But no dialogue from the show. What gives?"
Another desperate viewer tweeted, "MY BACHELORETTE HAS NO SOUND WHAT DO I DO?" while others begged ABC to fix the issue, with one person pleading, "Fix it @ABC! The Bachelorette has no audio! Just music on all platforms."
Over on Reddit, the situation was no better. One user lamented, "Is anyone else experiencing no sound just the annoying ass background music?! Watching on ABC the season’s 1st episode at airing time."
Despite the audio chaos, the two-hour premiere had some drama to offer. Jenn was shown in a white gown on a beach, telling someone, "I can't let you propose to me." She then placed what appeared to be the final rose on a small table and walked away.
Host Jesse Palmer, 45, asked her, "Are you okay with whatever's gonna happen here?" to which Jenn nodded before a clip showed her knocking on a door and bursting in.
In her introduction, Jenn reflected on her journey from competing on The Bachelor to now being The Bachelorette. She shared how her mom immigrated from Vietnam to give her a better future, and how important family is to her.
By the end of the episode, Jenn gave contractor Sam McKinney, 27, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the coveted First Impression rose. Jenn admitted to Sam that she was nervous but felt a strong connection with him. "I feel like there has been something there, and I can't stop thinking about you all night," she said. "So, Sam, will you accept this rose?"
Sam accepted, and in her confessional, Jenn expressed her excitement about Sam's "energy" and made the bold move to kiss him, saying, "This is it. This is the moment that I've kind of been waiting for all night, and I just feel like I want to kiss him. And so I'm gonna do it."
While Jenn Tran's historic debut faced technical issues, it still managed to serve up some classic Bachelorette drama—albeit mostly in silence.