I will start off by saying that The Bachelor never had much of a chance with me. I grew up learning about love stories in Disney movies, Titanic and all the Collin Firth movies my mom owned, supplemented by Nicholas Sparks novels on the side. So to have a reality show, of which I’m not a fan in general, where there are twenty something women all vying for the same man seemed absurd to me.
But as I am a teenage girl, with mostly girl friends and four sisters, I have had to watch it at some point or another. And not only did it not meet expectations, it fell far, far below them. I was uncomfortable the entire time. Watching women fighting for attention from one superficial guy was not fun, especially when the women then went on camera and talked bad about each other. The same could be said for the Bachelorette, where she is surrounded by men all vying for her attention. The whole concept comes across very shallow, as well as makes the contestants seem vapid and catty.
In spirit, this concept should work. People are trying to fall in love and, being on the show, have put away all the distractions to focus on their relationship. But, as it always happens, the way things happen on paper don’t translate to how they happen in real life. Women are all competing against each other, hoping for the chance to make this guy fall in love with them.
Add in that they are all putting their best face, not their true face, forward. But difficulties and the reactions are what allow a couple to know if they are compatible, to build their relationship on the knowledge they have a strong foundation. After all, without a strong foundation, your building will not be stable and, when facing with weathering the storm, it will fall.
While trying to find love is admirable and is something nearly all of us strive for, many on the show are only there for publicity or attention, instead of in an effort to fall in love. Like this seasons’ Jordan Rodgers, brother of Green Bay Packer’s Aaron Rodgers, who reportedly is only on the show to advertise himself for a sports casting job. Or perhaps, former contestants Frank Neuschaefer and Wes Hayden, one of whom was still seeing a girl back home while the latter used the show as a platform to advance his singing career. With this in mind, as well as the multiple other contestants who were on the show for the wrong reason but more complicated than my Googling of “who wasn’t good on the bachelorette,” it's hard to take this show at face value.
When The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are combined, you get 28 seasons. Of those 28 seasons, 19 have resulted in proposals (10 from the Bachelor, 9 from the Bachelorette). Of those 19 proposals, a mere 5 have led to marriage. The numbers don't add up to real love to me.
Safe to say, the Bachelor(ette) will not be getting a rose from me.
