“The Bachelor” star Juan Pablo Galavis’ controversial comments last week about why there shouldn’t be gay and bisexual contestants on the ABC reality franchise didn’t affect the show’s ratings.
Monday night’s episode averaged 7.8 million viewers, basically on par with its audience the prior week (7.9 million). In the adults 18-49 demo preferred by advertisers, “The Bachelor” also held steady at a 2.3 rating.
Pablo was forced to apologize over the weekend for saying in an interview that having a gay or bisexual Bachelor wasn’t “a good example for kids to watch.” He later said his remarks were taken out of context.
Across the dial Monday night, Discovery Channel premiered “Klondike” — its first scripted miniseries — to 3.4 million viewers. That drove the network to its most-watched Monday in prime time ever, though it was far below the nearly 14 million viewers who watched rival network History’s miniseries “Hatfields & McCoys” in 2012.
“Klondike” — which tells the story of the Gold Rush and stars Richard Madden (“Game of Thrones”) and Abbie Cornish — continues its three-part run on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 p.m.