The latest season of Bridgerton is upon us, with the first four episodes now streaming and the second half due on Netflix in June.

This season’s central love story is between Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, played by Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton. It’s something fans have both craved and expected since the show began… so why the heck is it being treated as controversial?! Because, according to some seriously deficient folks out there, Nicola just isn’t pretty enough to be a romantic lead.

We wish this were a fandom/social media overreaction to some offhand comment. It isn’t. Someone over at The Spectator actually thought it would be a good idea to explain why the show has made a huge mistake in casting her because she’s “not hot.” That would already be the most insane hot take nonsense since that Slate thinkpiece insistin

This writer felt the need to specifically attack her body shape, explaining in all her supposed pop culture acuity why a “fat” woman doesn’t work as the believable lead of a romance plot. Yes, really!

In Friday’s essay entitled Bridgerton’s Big Fantasy (haha get it? ugh), author Zoe Strimpel says she likes watching Nicola’s “expressive face” and compliments her acting on the show. Then things go so far off the rails…

“But reader, she is not hot, and there is no escaping it, as I was reminded recently when she graced Harper’s Bazaar’s cover in a fabulous outfit that still did not change her not-hotness.”

We mean… Is she serious here???

We know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but… WTF?? Zoe goes on:

“Coughlan is an actress of great value, and might be adored, but she is simply not plausible as the friend who would catch the handsome rich aristocrat Colin Bridgerton’s eye in that way. She’s not shapely — which can work as sexy even in Hollywood; she’s fat.”

Wow. What the hell year is it over at The Spectator? This writer clearly thinks viewers will simply reject the show without a thin person in the lead. (Something we wondered if someone in the Netflix marketing department agreed with…) She concluded:

“There’s nothing wrong with fat – it’s hardly a moral shortcoming – but a zest for equality and diversity (and in this case good acting) just isn’t enough to make a fat girl who wins the prince remotely plausible. In the cruel visual semantics of the screen, poor plump Penelope may be set up to win her man, but will she win her audience? The jury, dear reader, is out.”

BTW, dear reader, the jury is in. Not only is Bridgerton back on top of the ratings, demolishing the competition with 25.3 million views for Season 3 in the first week alone, #2 in the ratings tells another story! The second-most viewed show this past week was Bridgerton Season 1, with 6.4 million views! Meaning the new season is SO popular, it’s brought new fans in who are going back and binging the rest of the show! Just another thing Zoe is completely wrong about…

You can read the entire post HERE if you’re so inclined.

Frankly we’re kind of horrified. Not just that someone could be this wrongheaded, we mean… A lot of folks have trash opinions. But someone OKed this copy! Someone read this and went, Yep, that’s not a horrible thing to publish at all! This despite the fact Nicola has explicitly asked fans not to comment on her body.

Speaking of fans, Bridgerton viewers of all stripes came together in their apoplectic rage reading this trash. Here’s a small — and we mean small — sampling of the overwhelming backlash:

“The Spectator is a vile Tory rag that can f**k off and should be shot into the sun, Nicola Coughlan is undeniably banging and a great actress, this fatphobic bulls**t can truly do one.”

“Just read the Spectator article Zoe Strimpel wrote about our very own Nicola Coughlan. Horrific stuff. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it was written by a woman”

“I know I should never be surprised by the vile misogyny the Spectator publishes, but holy s**t their take on #Bridgerton and #Polin is truly horrific. The idea that Nicola Coughlan isn’t stunning is a) madness, & b) irrelevant to the plot”

“The @spectator personal attack on Nicola Coughlan is uncalled for and unnecessary. Criticizing her looks instead of her performance is disgusting and unsolicited. Someone tell Zoe Strimpel that it’s 2024, and the ‘fat girl’ CAN bag the prince.”

“Zoe Strimpel, you should be ASHAMED of what you wrote in the Spectator about Nicola Coughlan. How dare you speak that way about another human being? That article should have never been published. Disgusting. Zoe, seek help for your fatphobia. And to the Spectator, DO BETTER!”

“That article in Spectator about Nicola is one of the vilest things I’ve read in ages. Firstly, that girl is a ray of sunshine & second, not that it matters, but she’s a size 12/14 at MOST. Me, at size 24, reading about how unsexy, undesirable ‘fat’ bodies are. Felt great.”

“That Zoe Strimpel piece in the Spectator about Nicola Coughlan being “not hot” is exactly the kind of brainwashed, bro, pick me, homogenized beauty standards crap that new romance loves to thumb its nose at. Also Nicola is STUNNING. Not being able to see that is all the proof.”

What do YOU think of this publication putting out such a cruel article? Was it just for the attention? The hate-clicks? Or do they all really think so little of those who don’t fit into these traditional TV shapes and sizes?