I Hate The Bachelor—But I Still Watch It Religiously

I’ve watched The Bachelor franchise shows for 8 years now, so I guess you could say I’m one of the veteran fans of the show. But I wouldn’t exactly call myself a fan—more of a mere observer.

I started watching the show during Ben Flajnik’s Season 16 in 2012. I’m not entirely sure why I first watched the show or how I fell into it; I didn’t exactly think Ben F. was particularly attractive or possessed this amazing personality. Somehow, the drama of watching him propose to Courtney Robinson, the “villain” of the season, was television gold. Hook, line, and sinker. I’m still here in 2020.

Over the next few years, I continued to watch the franchise, including the more-loved spin-off, Bachelor in Paradise. In these last 8 years, there were times where I really struggled through watching it (at times, I outright refused to watch it with its ridiculously boring leads). And yet, I find myself glued to my laptop once again this season. These are some of the reasons why I hate The Bachelor:

1. Unrealistic Expectations

The show films over the course of 6 weeks. It’s truly comical to see people all over Twitter and Instagram getting invested and upset over someone that the Bachelor or Bachelorette has spent actually less than a week with. Sorry to burst your bubble, but they were never going to stay engaged. You know it, I know it, and the entire show’s production team knows it!

2. Feminism? Nope.

I think we’ve reached the tipping point in society where we should stop pitting men and women against their own sex in order to win the affections of someone they literally just met. It’s also worth including that almost everyone’s intentions of getting married somehow end up vilifying those who do not think that the show’s less-than-2-month schedule gives them a realistic amount of time to get engaged to someone. WHAT A SHOCKER!

3. Vilification of Contestants

Even though this season the show’s editing made a lot of people have their moments of being “the villain of the season,” The Bachelor franchise is notorious for having some sort of antagonist storyline. All of the current top people of this season’s The Bachelor have had a moment with the leading bachelor, Peter, of being absolutely crazy. I’m entirely not sure if that gives me any hope, or just further horrifies me about the lengths the contestants will go on the show.

4. Useless Amounts of Random People

I don’t know about you, but I do refer to specific moments about what the contestants have done in place of their actual name, up until hometowns. If The Bachelor producers think that I’m going to remember 30 random girls and guys names every season along with previous prominent and obscure members of The Bachelor community, their producers are sadly mistaken.

5. Over-Exaggerated Drama

While it is quite funny to see the frivolous drama unfold when a house full of 30 men and women (with no cell phones, books, or movies) are vying for the attention one person of the opposite sex, the drama that occurs has gotten to the point of pure insanity. This season was all about the now-forgotten champagne-gate and the Alayah drama (and yes, I had to Google her name because I forgot who she was). Last season was all about Luke P. and throwing chicken nuggets. Some of the dramatics that happen are so wild, I could not have even made any of this up—even if I tried.

6. Normal people

On the off chance that normal people end up on the show, chances are that that person is not going to be the winner. Everyone who has a normal personality gets booted in favor of the crying, lying, and manipulative women who clearly are not ready for marriage.

7. “The Most Dramatic Season”

The spoilers found out by the notorious Reality Steve are actually my favorite part of the start of The Bachelor season. However, I think it’s hilarious that the Bachelor producers allow phones into their group dates or one-on-one dates, but the host Chris Harrison continues to claim every season will be the most dramatic. It’s not very dramatic if I already know what’s going to happen, Chris. I basically watch it to see how the lead ended up with the winning man/woman, and why they were completely wrong in their choice. And, after watching, I do feel better about myself for not being insane.