‘It is so powerful to be an Asian woman’
Jill Chin from 'Bachelor in Paradise' sits down with JoySauce to talk about finding love, on TV and beyond
Jill Chin is a current contestant on “Bachelor in Paradise.”
Bachelor in Paradise/ABC
Words by Andre Lawes Menchavez
Jill Chin, a 27-year-old architectural historian, may be best known for her many, many iconic crying segments during her four-week run on last winter’s 26th season of The Bachelor. But all memes aside, her journey on that initial season was honestly a heartbreaking one to watch. Viewers like myself had to witness this beautiful and excellent Asian American woman be so passionate about finding love, only to find herself virtually invisible to a man that clearly did not deserve her.
Thankfully, though, her journey continues on the beaches of the current season of Bachelor In Paradise (BIP), a spin-off of the main series where eliminated contestants from former seasons try to find love with one another on an island. Chin’s casting on the show is no surprise to me. She is reality television gold and a TikTok-making meme queen, always endearingly tearful and hopelessly romantic, wearing her heart on her very fashionable sleeves at all times.
@jill_chin I thought I came to slay ☠️ #greenscreen #bachelor #thebachelor #xyzbca #fyp ♬ original sound - Venus VanderVamp
With only a few episodes into the season, Chin has already stolen the show. She found herself in the middle of a love triangle with her “friend” Kira and a former Bachelorette contestant named Romeo. Despite giving Romeo a second chance, he still tried to pursue other women—and Chin, like the queen she is, did not accept that.
“Like, what, did you expect me to just sit there and be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll let you walk all over me?’” Jill said on last week’s episode, as she ended things with Romeo while he dramatically chased her down the beach. “I’m not going to let boys make me feel like garbage anymore.”
In our short interview following last week’s episode, Chin shared that she learned a lot from participating in BIP. She realized tenfold that she was capable and worthy of being loved, and also that it was immensely important to never hide who she was. “I would always try to empower myself,” Chin says about her journey. “I think what you’re gonna see in the next couple of episodes is me actually stepping into that.”
She says she felt particularly proud of her bravery and authenticity as an Asian woman on the show. “It’s also really special to me to be able to represent the Asian community [on the show], because I didn’t have any Asian women growing up to look up to [on TV],” Chin says. “I’m thankful to be in this position and be able to show what an Asian love story could look like… I really think that highlighting Asian love stories is so important.”
Chin is aware of the recent conversations among fans calling for more Asian representation on the show, especially in regards to an Asian lead—a push that she fully supports. “I’m super hopeful to see an Asian lead [and] I think there should be an Asian lead,” she says, shortly before commenting on the support for Ethan Kang to be the Bachelor this year. “I think Ethan is super great, and we even saw support from people like Simu Liu, and it was amazing to see the community come together [to support Kang]. So yeah, I’m really hopeful for more progress in the future.”
“I’m thankful to be in this position and be able to show what an Asian love story could look like…I really think that highlighting Asian love stories is so important.”
We also chatted about how her Asian heritage has impacted her run on the show and in her pursuits outside of it. “Well, my mom was like, ‘Of course you’d do something like this,’ and my dad was absolutely mortified,” Chin says with a laugh when I asked her about how she brought up being on a reality show to find love to her Asian father, a conversation I’ve always been curious about with regards to other Asian contestants in the past. “In the next couple of episodes, you’re gonna see me go on a date that many Asian parents would not approve of. So it was very difficult. It’s hard to identify as an Asian woman and having an Asian identity and participating in American culture. It’s super hard to find that line because I obviously have an immense amount of respect for my dad and my family, and I told him I would never do anything to the ‘family name’ that would jeopardize us or do something dishonorable.”
In last night’s episode, a contestant named Jacob expressed his feelings for Chin and the two had their own segment on the show. Viewers at home watched as the two started their journey of finding love together as they participated in a shaman-led tantric, oiled and bare-naked one-on-one date on the beach. I saw what Chin meant when she said it was a kind of date our Asian parents wouldn’t approve of, but I was so happy to see her finally get the love she so deserves—even if it was at the cost of a tricky conversation with her parents back home.
“It feels so good because I know that he’s going to choose me and I choose him, and I haven’t felt chosen this whole time,” she said in last night’s episode, cuddled up to her new beau.
Chin hopes to see more visibility of love stories like hers on television, because there are many conversations she believes need to be had regarding what Asian people face when pursuing love. One example she brought up is the fetishization of Asian women and their bodies.
“There have been relationships I’ve been in where I felt [they were] fetishizing my Asian heritage and I had to remove myself from that situation,” Chin says, advising Asian women out there trying to find love to be vigilant and to always follow your gut. “Especially coming into the public sphere, that’s where I have experienced the most racial bias. But embrace your differences, embrace your roots, because it is so powerful to be an Asian woman.”
As for potentially being the Bachelorette one day (if her run on BIP doesn’t work out), Chin says coyly, “We’ll have to see, you’ll have to ask me then. I’m not opposed, or closing any doors!”
Published on October 12, 2022