I may be the least entitled person to write an article about the drama and lore surrounding the hit reality television show “The Bachelor.” I went my entire life swearing off the show due to the redundant and demeaning situations it placed women in. But after relentless pestering to watch it with her, I finally joined my roommate when it started up again last year. I made it about three episodes before I had to call it quits and made up excuses to bail on the Monday night viewing parties.
However, then “The Golden Bachelor” premiered a never-before-seen version of the reality show. My interest was piqued by the idea behind the show: having people in their “golden” age of life compete for the love of Gerry Turner, a 72-year-old widower and America’s golden boy, both figuratively and literally.
I loved “The Golden Bachelor” because it took the beaten and reused plot of “The Bachelor” and applied it to an entirely new, hilarious demographic. The catfights and drama seemed all too unreal and often left me questioning if retirement could make people want to join a show where their private lives became public knowledge.
Sadly, my dream candidate for Turner did not win the show, causing a lot of anger and yelling at the screen coming from both my roommate and me (BTW Gerry, we are still upset). But, my tentative love of the older version made me want to try and truly give “The Bachelor” a fair shot this time around. We are now two episodes in and the only stance I can truly take on the show so far is one of neutrality.
I do not want to be too quick to judge the show two weeks into airing, but the dynamics of the cast are already so tension-filled that I can only see the finale being a huge fight between all the women while the bachelor, Joey Graziadei, stands passively in the corner with a tennis racquet.
For example, when producers brought two sisters onto the show, myy first thought was about how sweet bringing in a sisterly duo was. How mistaken was that initial impression? They were swearing and competing with each other by the 30-minute mark. It is on me for forgetting the tendency of sibling relationships to bring out the worst in one another, as displayed in these first couple of episodes.
One thing I cannot forgive is the recent group date they went on. Besides being way too on the nose for a show about a man trying to get a wife, a wedding-themed group date was immensely hard to watch. Another reason I cannot watch the show without an eyeroll here and there is the forced desperation all the women must wear. It is an obvious side effect that will come when competing for the proposal of one man amongst a crowd of women. However, the wedding-themed activity took it to a whole new extreme.
Turner told each and every woman to pretend he was married to them for the exercise. The repetitive show of announcing each and every woman “Mrs. Graziadei” made me feel bad they were being toyed with so heavily, and only on the second episode. It portrayed all the contestants as hopelessly devoted to getting married, which is the point of the show but still hard to stomach on screen.
Along with the humiliation, they all had to watch other women kiss and have first dances with the man they are trying to eventually marry. This gets to the crux of my main problem with the show. The man goes on dates and flirts with some 20 other women in front of everyone else, then is expected to be faithful and true to only one after having made out with all the others. I understand that reality television is a beloved form of entertainment in the world. It is easy to get lost in, and commiserate with or cheer for certain people who you like on the show, butI just personally have a hard time with shows like “The Bachelor.” I spend most of my time feeling bad for the women who get no time with Joey or truly seem to like him. This is in no way shaming anyone for enjoying the show — without the devoted watchers, these people would never be able to find true love!
As for the way the show will go, I do not want to tempt fate by making any sort of predictions. I already had my heart broken by “The Golden Bachelor” and do not want to put all my eggs in one basket only to have them smashed by the women least likely to win the show. It’s all about letting the show naturally play out, and seeing who will win the heart of the bachelor.
