The Bachelor and its ridiculous number of spin-offs, including my personal favorite Bachelor in Paradise, have managed to create an empire essentially based on pimping oneself out for national TV.
But why is it that we can’t help ourselves from not changing the channel or turning the TV off? Well, it’s not because of the show’s high success rate — just five of Bachelor Nation’s couples, not including Kaitlyn and Shawn, are still together.
Is it because Ben Higgins and Chris Soules are ridiculously attractive and we love fantasizing about these attractive people? Or because we felt for Kaitlyn Bristowe when she got her heart broken, and now root for her to find true love on the very show that caused her heartbreak?
Or is it because of the crazy ones, like Lace from Ben’s season, Clint from Kaitlyn’s season and Kelsey from Chris’s season, who are always stirring the pot and leaving us eager to see what drama they’ll cause in the next episode?
Personally, I think it’s a little bit of everything. At first we get interested because the guys are super attractive and the girls are ridiculously beautiful. We stay hooked because of the crazy ones — I mean who doesn’t love watching crazy people make fools of themselves on national TV? It’s ridiculously entertaining. But, towards the end of the show when all the crazy ones are hopefully gone, we’re all invested in Ben’s and the remaining girls’ lives, and we have to watch until the very end of the season just to see how everything will play out.
As entertaining as The Bachelor is, it’s important, especially as collegiette™ women, that we remember that the show is just that…a show. The show isn’t reality and we shouldn’t demean ourselves to the value of a rose.