Everything Wrong With This Season of ‘The Bachelor’
Tags: TV Shows, Television, The Bachelor, Review, TV Series

Everything Wrong With This Season of ‘The Bachelor’

If you cry, I’ll give you a rose

Source: ABC

Warning: spoilers up to week six

When it comes to criticizing TV shows, I understand that The Bachelor is pretty low-hanging fruit. It’s a reality TV show centered around beautiful people in beautiful places looking for love — and definitely not television fame. It’s safe to say The Bachelor is edited for dramatic effect and probably at least partially scripted (ever notice how they never eat the food on the dinner date?).

That being said, The Bachelor is also entertaining and kind of addicting — sort of in the same way that order of french fries or a bag of Doritos is addicting. You know it isn’t great for you, but you’re still going to grab a handful and tune in every week anyway.

And, in spite of all the criticism that The Bachelor has garnered over years, the show has continued to acquire a large fanbase with over 7 million weekly viewers and twenty-four seasons.

However, even the most dedicated Bachelor fans haven’t been happy with the latest season that’s currently airing on TV. Some are saying this season has the worst group of contestants ever while others are calling Peter Weber the worst bachelor in the show’s history.

Although I’m still not sure I’d call Peter the worst bachelor (has everyone forgotten about Juan Pablo?), I can argue that this is one of the worst seasons of all time. The Bachelor has already set the bar pretty low, but this season continues to disappoint — and here’s why.

Everyone is a villain

There have been some noteworthy antagonists throughout The Bachelor’s history. From Trish Schnieder to Courtney Robertson, there have been plenty of women that have created chaos.

However, one common theme throughout the show is that there’s usually only one or two villains per season. Sometimes the villain ends up getting redeemed, but other times, they’re just there to stir up drama and make each episode a little more interesting. There might only be a few contestants that you dislike, but plenty that you’re rooting for.

Season twenty-four of The Bachelor has not stuck to this formula. Instead of highlighting one contestant as the antagonist, they decided to make…everyone a villain?

From Hannah Ann stealing the champagne bottle, Sydney and Victoria Paul lying to get Alayah kicked off, and Tammy tattling to Peter, it’s been difficult to root for any of this season’s contestants. Each week, the women seem determined to get even cattier. Contestants like Victoria Fuller have even shown their unsavory traits outside of the TV show.

In the past, The Bachelor has always been about popcorn-worthy drama, but it’s also showcased women that build lifelong friendships with each other. Even as they all compete for the same man, many of the contestants from previous seasons have banded together for support. It’s made for a chaotic but wholesome batch of reality TV.

Part of what makes this season feel so difficult to watch is the lack of support. Even when the women seem as if they’re trying to comfort each other, nobody knows if it’s a ploy. For example, in week five, contestant Kelsey Weier was attempting to drown her sorrows in a wine bottle while Peter was on a date with one of the other girls.

When Tammy Ly came over to speak with her, her intentions seemed pure. She tried to comfort Kelsey when the blonde explained that she was feeling jealous and left out. However, Tammy showed her malicious side quickly by telling Peter that Kelsey was having a “mental breakdown” and had “alcoholic tendencies.”

Peter, who has shown himself to be someone that values everybody’s opinion, immediately tried to get the bottom of the situation. The entire scenario left a sour taste in my mouth — instead of trying to genuinely help Kelsey feel better, Tammy manipulated the situation to her advantage. Contestants like Victoria Paul and Sydney have also abused the way Peter intently listens to everyone.

Catty drama isn’t a stranger to The Bachelor, but by making most of the women the antagonists, it’s made the show lose its charm.

It’s social media influencer boot camp

To say that a lot of people come on The Bachelor to become famous feels like an obvious statement. If nothing else, most of the contestants are looking for a mixture of genuine connection and television fame. If everything works out, they could end up with a diamond ring and a few sponsorship deals.

Since the rise of social media, it’s become even more apparent on later seasons of The Bachelor that many contestants are looking to become social media influencers rather than find true love. On this season, The Bachelor doesn’t even seem to fight it.

Many of the “group dates” include acting in a telenovela, walking a runway, and shooting a magazine cover for Cosmo. Each one doubles as something the contestants can put on their resume when they look for future career opportunities.

However, it’s the age of some of the contestants that make the “quest for true love” truly hard to believe. It’s easy to see why contestants like twenty-seven-year-old Kelley Flanagan or thirty-one-year-old Natasha Parker are looking to settle down. Both women have successful careers and are at age where they’re probably financially stable enough (and emotionally mature) to think about marriage.

With other contestants like twenty-two-year-old Mykenna Dorn or twenty-three-year-old Hannah Sluss, it’s less believable. It’s hard to watch Mykenna Dorn babble on about “showing Peter her heart” as if she’s completely ready to commit the rest of her life to a man she’s known for a few weeks. Even Hannah Ann, who claims she’s “never been in love” tried to sell the audience on the fact that she’s finally falling for Peter after their first date.

During week six, when Peter had a one-on-one date with Hannah Ann, he asked about her future. She answered with this:

So many people stay like in the shallow waters of life. You’ll only catch minnows in the shallow, and for me I’m like let’s go deep. — Hannah Ann Sluss

As fitting as her response might be for someone’s motivational poster, it doesn’t inspire confidence that she’s ready for the commitment of marriage.

The Bachelor has always been about getting famous, but with contestants that were in their late twenties or early thirties, it seemed believable that they were ready to settle down too. Yet, as the contestants get younger, The Bachelor feels more like social media influencer boot camp rather than a quest for love.

Peter doesn’t seem ready for commitment either

Even if the contestant’s intentions seem less than honorable, most people can count on the fact that the Bachelor is ready to settle down. After all, the show usually ends with him giving someone a diamond ring.

As the season continues to play out, Peter’s emotional maturity seems questionable. Not only does he feed the drama at every turn, but he struggles to connect with the women — unless they’re crying.

It’s been an odd trend throughout the season, but Peter seems to connect most with the women once they break down and talk about how much they want to be there. On his date with Hannah Ann, her vague answers frustrated him until he ended up walking out of the building.

When Hannah Ann finally caught up to him, she started to cry and Peter went as far as to say, “This is what I wanted to see.” Hannah Ann also didn’t receive a rose until after her teary display.

In comparison, Peter’s date with Kelley Flanagan in week four was completely different. Kelley hasn’t gotten tons of screentime, but she’s one of the only women not to complain about the lack of time she gets with Peter. Rather than trying to force her connection with Peter into an epic love story, she’s been treating the show like any normal dating experience. In Costa Rica, she claimed that she wanted to see if she was even into Peter.

On their date, Peter began to grill Kelley about why she was there and her lack of enthusiasm. Instead of a teary-eyed display, she was calm, cool, and collected. She questioned Peter about why he continued to “reward the drama” and whether or not he was ready for a commitment. She managed to stay on the show, but the date ended on a tense note. Peter seemed less than impressed that she was willing to answer with logic rather than an emotional display.

Peter continues to claim that he’s ready for a wife and wants to get married, but his actions show differently. Not only is he involved in the drama, but he rewards the women when they act like children. I’d argue that their emotional displays flatter him while Kelley’s calm attitude intimidates him.

It brings his emotional maturity into question. The relationships that Peter seems most interested in — bar Madi — are ones without healthy, adult communication.