Magi Was Excited to Be the First Ethiopian on ‘The Bachelor.’ Then Came the Tigray Conflict
Her fellow contestants rallied around her during ethnic cleansing in her Ethiopian home.
CRAIG SJODIN VIA GETTY IMAGES + COURTESY OF MAGI TAREKE + COURTESY OF EMILY H. JOHNSON
On November 3, 2020, as the United States was preoccupied with the presidential election, Mearg “Magi” Tareke had just returned home to Washington, D.C. from the Pennsylvania resort where she had been filming season 25 of The Bachelor.
Excited to tell her mother about her experience as the first Ethiopian contestant ever to appear on ABC’s blockbuster reality dating show, Tareke picked up the phone but couldn’t get through. It was her first clue something was wrong back home in Tigray.