Admit it. At some point, you have watched or heard about "The Bachelor," the popular reality show where several contestants compete against each other to win the affection of one Bachelor, also known as the final rose. Chances are, when you watched the show, you laughed as a bunch of girls got into seemingly meaningless fights or rolled your eyes as you witnessed a girl that acted so irrationally, she seemed almost unreal. We all watch "The Bachelor" and have no problem judging the "crazy" girl. Whenever I've watched the show, I've always pictured myself on that same show and thought, "There is no way I would ever behave like that."
That being said, there are many things that go on behind the scenes of reality TV shows that viewers are unaware of or do not take into account. Many people who watch "The Bachelor" do not realize that a lot of pressure is placed on contestants to act a certain way. Even though it is a reality show, producers assign roles to contestants beforehand. Some people are cast as villains, and throughout the show producers make an effort to portray them that way. Many of the girls that we like to call "crazy" were merely unlucky enough to be cast as villain. Throughout the show, contestants are offered high amounts of alcohol, and consequently say things that they wouldn't normally say. In addition to this, many contestants who have left the show have talked about the fact that producers often went through extensive lengths to get the girls to say whatever they wanted them to say on camera. Some girls even said producers would curse and yell at them just to make them upset. When the show airs, a lot of comments are taken completely out of context.
Besides the behind the scenes emotional manipulation, many viewers are unaware of the living conditions of the contestants. Even though they generally stay in nice hotels or the main mansion, the contestants are not allowed to access their phones or computers, preventing them from communicating with any friends or family. The only people they have to talk to are producers and each other. Besides this, filming can be long and painful. The rose ceremonies seem short and brief to viewers, but filming a rose ceremony can take hours. The contestants often have to stand there until 6 or 7 in the morning. When we see people acting strange during the rose ceremonies, it is probably because they are mentally and physically exhausted.
As I learned more and more about this show, I realized how misjudged contestants on this show truly are. Next time you laugh at the "crazy" girl, consider the fact that she is living an abnormal and might have been cast as a villain. Even though shows like "The Bachelor" are called reality shows, they are often very far from real.
