I'm treating this blog post as a confessional of sorts. I need to get this off my chest. I am a college-educated, smart, professional woman. I have common sense, and two children. I want my children to know that life is not always a fairy tale. That things aren't handed to you. That you work for what you want and you make your own happiness. So it's with all that baggage that I must explain my absolute pleasure in watching
The Bachelor on ABC.
I know, right? What the heck? How can I stand how these women are objectified and humiliated and desperate enough to go on television and practically claw each other's eyes out to get to the big prize: the man.
I'm not sure. But there's something totally satisfying about it. First of all, for the most part, they're all BEAUTIFUL. Not hard to look at it. And maybe that's part of it. Beautiful people ALWAYS win. Don't they? Maybe there's something hilarious about pitting beautiful people against each other where the majority of them will lose.
There's the group dynamic lesson where the strong ferret out the weak and then go to work to eliminate them while the others watch on the sidelines. That can be hard to watch, but it's interesting to see how their personalities come out to play.
Of course, then there's the hot guy. Or in the case of The Bachelorette, all the hot guys. But that would be too easy to explain and can't be the only reason.
It's the fantasy of it, I guess. Not sharing the hot guy with 20 other girls, because that would be more like a nightmare. But watching the decision-making process of the average hot guy is fascinating. Invariably, the most drama-prone girls get to stay week after week. Now that could be a ratings ploy, but based on my life experience, girls with drama do stick around longer than they should.
There's the fantasy date locations where they get to climb mountains or zip line across the rain forest (all with perfect makeup and the cutest, skimpiest outfits of course). There are private concerts in romantic settings and private jets waiting to take you to a dinner for two in the middle of the fountains at The Bellagio in Las Vegas.
In the end, it's like the Superbowl. I know who I'm rooting for and I know who I hope gets left at the altar. I've spent the season watching their moves. I know who is deserving of the hot guy and who needs to be sent packing.
I have no real expectation that the relationship will last. If fact, I'd be pleasantly surprised if it did. But what makes this experiment any different than real life? With half of all marriages ending in divorce, why does this approach face so much criticism? Who am I to judge how someone finds love?
Or at least a heck of a good time along the way. And Sean, if none of these girls work out, give me a call. I can be your shoulder to cry on.
