The Bachelorette to be axed?

Brace yourselves Bachelorette fans because this season *might* be the last.

The series starring Georgia Love proved it was no match for the ratings success of last year's, sparking speculation this Bachelorette could be the end.

The first episode drew in just 655,000 viewers, which is pretty lacklustre compared to the debut episode of The Bachelor starring Richie Strahan, which was seen by 882,000 people.

Sam Frost's season of The Bachelorette saw 875,000 viewers watch the debut episode with 1.52 million tuning into its finale, meanwhile this season has yet to hit the 850,000 mark.

Network Ten’s chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey, however, declared this season a success and defended the drop in ratings.

"Traditionally in other markets The Bachelorette doesn’t do as well as The Bachelor for a variety of reasons,” she said to the Daily Telegraph.

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“We had a phenomenal year one because of Sam Frost’s backstory (after she was dumped by The Bachelor Blake Garvey) and how interested people were in seeing where her story would go," she explained.

“So it was inevitable the show would drop back a bit.”

She added: "We’re happy with the performance and we’re happy with the production of the show."

The series finale airs this week so only time will tell if it will return next year...

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