Bachelor in Paradise viewers have reacted angrily after a teased "lesbian kiss", used in pre-season promos to amp up excitement for the Ten series, turned out to be a lie.
Viewers of Tuesday night's episode took to social media to accuse Ten of "queerbaiting", and using a contestant’s sexuality to sensationally attract viewers.
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Trailer: Bachelor in Paradise Australia
A dating show which gives former contestants of Bachelor and Bachelorette Australia another crack at finding love.
The show's pre-season promo, unveiled by Ten last month, had hinted at a same-sex hook-up, with the openly bisexual Megan Marx shown kissing another mysterious, longhaired contestant during a late night swim.
"She's absolutely gorgeous, she's definitely my type of girl," the promo shows Marx saying, over images of castmate Elora Murger.
![Marx with the mysterious longhaired brunette, revealed to be Thomas Perras.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180418062748im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/y/w/k/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.p4za7g.png/1524014685326.jpg)
But Tuesday night's episode confirmed that the longhaired cast member was in fact a man: Thomas Perras, a contestant from Canada's The Bachelorette, who was brought back into the series after being dumped on Monday, just a day into his Paradise adventure.
The series had initially drawn a positive response in featuring Marx, the franchise's first openly queer castmate. Fans had praised how casually the show handled her bisexuality in prime-time, with Marx regularly discussing her attraction to both men and women.
But the goodwill slowly disappeared as reports hinted viewers had been misled about the heavily hyped kiss.
Overnight, commenters on social media criticised Ten for giving LGBTI viewers false hope they "might see themselves represented" on screen.
Here's the part of the promo where Channel 10 deliberately cut together Megan talking about Elora with her kiss w/ a long-haired brunette, to make it seem like they were going to deliver a same sex couple. Turns out it was Thomas. Queerbaiting at its finest. #BachelorInParadise pic.twitter.com/ywKqzC0YUb
— Jenna Guillaume (@JennaGuillaume) April 17, 2018
OMG MEGAN IS KISSING A WOMAN!
— Mark (@markp_) April 17, 2018
...A BEARDED WOMAN!?
Oh no wait, that’s right Channel 10 just queer-baited us for 2 months.
Soz. #BachelorInParadiseAU pic.twitter.com/aHzmDV2NwB
Lol way to set up the sneak peak ads to look like Megan kissed Elora.. @channelten that’s pretty shitty to advertise queerbaiting it would have been nicer if there was actually some same sex couples #BachelorInParadiseAU
— Krystal Birch (@birchyyk) April 17, 2018
Reminder that the initial promo literally pretended that a dude with long hair was a girl so that they could play on Megan’s bisexuality without actually validating it just for viewers I’m MAD #BachelorInParadiseAU pic.twitter.com/N1Hwnf1djw
— GRACE (@GraceGarde) April 17, 2018
IT WAS A MAN WITH LONG HAIR. #BachelorInParadiseAU pic.twitter.com/x7Ioq7Koki
— flossy (@dentitexx) April 17, 2018
Andre Charadia, director of the Australian LGBTI Media Centre, said while viewers might be aware that The Bachelor series "is all about the tease", criticisms aimed at Ten are justified.
"LGBTIQ people still aren't used to seeing themselves in the media. When that representation looks like it might happen, we get a bit excited - we want to support it with our money and our eyes. When that doesn't eventuate, we feel sucked in, a bit cheated and exploited," he said.
"The main problem with queerbaiting is that it makes LGBTIQ people a plotline, not an integral part of the story... Ten's disappointed a good number of people; people who want the media to do better, and people who felt like they were cheated out of being represented."
Ten and production company Warner Bros have been approached for comment.