We all know reality shows aren’t really reality. They’re a contrived environment meant for entertainment.
So what happens when dating shows become a joke? TV networks create even more gimmicks.
Monday is the start of season 19 of The Bachelorette, or The Bachelorettes. Two women will be handing out roses the entire season. Bachelor Nation has done this twice before, but never for an entire season.
The two women, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia, were dumped by last season’s bachelor at the same time (please cue a massive eye roll for how dumb that was). So far, it seems they’ll make it through the journey without drama between them, but will it be dramatic in other ways?
Bachelor producers certainly want us to think so. This gimmick seems like a huge ploy to attempt to get ratings back up after recent declines.
While Bachelor Nation has been going strong for 20 years, its success rate isn’t good. One Bachelor is married to his winner (though two are married to their runners-up after both pulling switcheroos during the finale), and the most recent two are still in a relationship with the woman they chose.
The Bachelorettes have a slightly higher success rate, with four still married to their pick (another final couple announced their divorce in 2020 after eight years together).
The spinoff Bachelor in Paradise could be deemed the most successful in terms of couples staying together, but there’s not a clear-cut formula to mark success for that show.
The Bachelor and Bachelorette have all but monopolized the dating reality show realm. Its tradition of handing out roses, 1-on-1 and group dates, the limo entrances, the fantasy suites, and travel make it seem like such a fairytale.
And maybe early on it was. Who wouldn’t mind a little humiliation for travel opportunities, a swag bag and the chance to fall in love? (Contestants don’t get paid monetarily, but the lead does.)
But in the age of Tinder and other online dating sites, why bother taking unpaid time off work for a person you don’t know and probably doesn’t live in your state when you can just go online and find hundreds of available options?
In a word: influence.
It’s not just 15 minutes of fame anyone; contestants can buoy a 3- or 4-episode run (or a particularly interesting night-one or villain turn) into an Instagram influence deal and verified account.
Tayshia Adams, one of the more recent Bachelorettes, is an influencer and co-host. She was a phlebotomist. She’s not alone in leaving her profession for “lifestyle expert” work.
The romance doesn’t matter on this show anymore; it’s how you can score celebrity status.
Producers know it too. The dates are almost verbatim every season, and manipulation of contestants is fairly obvious. But people seem more than willing to sign up for humiliation at the chance of mediocre fame (ironically, at least one person each season is called out for not being there for the right reasons, aka finding love).
Reality TV isn’t great, let’s be real. It’s mindless entertainment that allows you to turn your brain off and laugh at other people. It’s watercooler TV, even in the age of remote work.
With as many options as there are these days, you can listen to or watch recaps, which typically boil down a 2-hour, with commercials episode into around 20 minutes, instead of watching the actual episode. You lose some of the drama, but you also save time while still staying in the know.
Because we all see the fame opportunities and Bachelor shows still have social and pop culture traction, other TV networks keep trying to find their own version.
This winter, Fox brought back Joe Millionaire with the subtitle “For Richer or Poorer,” but the bits I saw looked so early 2000s, it was almost gross. And neither couple lasted long past airing.
NBC brought “The Courtship,” which felt like Bridgerton meets Bachelor. The winning couple isn’t together anymore either.
The process doesn’t work. That’s obvious. But people love to watch other people crash and burn. And the fantasy of falling in love still rings so true for people, it’s hard to resist. We hope they work out, but deep down we know it’s unlikely.
I just wish the gimmicks would stop, but that’s what goes viral.
I could stop watching (I prefer the recaps more and more), but it’s hard not to watch to see what wacky date or trick they’ll try next.