"The Bachelor" is one of the most watched shows on modern day television. I myself even tune in every Monday night when both “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” are in session. The drama, the tears and the so-called “love stories” within it drive me back each and every week.
If you’re unfamiliar with the show itself, “The Bachelor” centers around a single man desperate to find love and is thus the "bachelor." The show finds twenty or so women from around the country as viable dates/future wives for this specific bachelor (and “The Bachelorette” features the opposite, with one single woman and twenty or so eligible male dates at her disposal). Each week, the Bachelor takes these women on extravagant and expensive dates, sometimes even leaving the country to do so.
The show takes place over the course of ten weeks. It’s all very entertaining, let me assure you, but entirely ridiculous.
To begin my argument, as a young woman, if I was interested in a guy that twenty other women were also vying for, I would, without a doubt, drop the guy. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and furthermore, there are plenty of other very attractive fish in the sea. Why stress over a guy like that?
Pardon me, but a dating game show just doesn’t seem appealing to me. Why would one want their love life (or lack thereof) broadcasted on television, a popular channel like ABC, nonetheless. I’ve heard rumors and read articles stating that many go out to be “contestants” on this show for the popularity boost, as in being on this show for the fame it would bring them or even the fame it could bring their business. Sounds like a lot of unnecessary embarrassment just to promote yourself, but to each their own, I suppose.
This reality show also depicts the furthest, most far-fetched depiction of modern-day dating there is. I may be young, but I’ve learned from my parents’ relationship, my friends’ relationships and my own relationship experiences that dating is not always easy. It’s not a walk in the park, and it’s definitely not a day trip to some tropical island destination!
It’s easy to fall in love in the beautiful environments the show takes place in; heck, I could honestly say that I’d fall for these guys if they took me on a boat cruise around a palm-tree speckled island, tasty drink in hand, as well. Dating is making decisions together, shopping together and overall going through real life together.
Once the “winners” leave this game show world they were thriving in over the course of ten weeks, they’re thrown into the real world, where real life decisions must be made, and that’s where they crash and burn. There’s a reason their lives’ after “The Bachelor” are never publicized; they never last!
Call me old-fashioned, but true love just can’t be discovered on a television show.
