Fansided

Why The Bachelor needs instant replay

By Sarabeth Pollock

THE BACHELOR - "2403" - The "Champagne-gate" controversy continues to bubble and fizz as Hannah Ann and Kelsey attempt to try and bury the hatchet but only succeed in making matters worse. Meanwhile, Peter concentrates on having fun, going country line dancing with one smitten kitten, Victoria P., and Demi Burnett masterminds an "Extreme Pillow Fight Club" group date that sends feathers flying. However, Peter needs to confront his fear of falling for someone whose feelings aren't genuine early on and struggles with his rose decisions on "The Bachelor," MONDAY, JAN. 20 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on ABC. (ABC/John Fleenor)SARAH
THE BACHELOR - "2403" - The "Champagne-gate" controversy continues to bubble and fizz as Hannah Ann and Kelsey attempt to try and bury the hatchet but only succeed in making matters worse. Meanwhile, Peter concentrates on having fun, going country line dancing with one smitten kitten, Victoria P., and Demi Burnett masterminds an "Extreme Pillow Fight Club" group date that sends feathers flying. However, Peter needs to confront his fear of falling for someone whose feelings aren't genuine early on and struggles with his rose decisions on "The Bachelor," MONDAY, JAN. 20 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on ABC. (ABC/John Fleenor)SARAH /
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If The Bachelor and The Bachelorette want to keep going, they need to make a few changes to keep them honest, relevant and “real.”

Reality television was new and novel when it first hit the airwaves in the late 1990s. Dating shows quickly became part of the reality fabric, with The Bachelor and The Bachelorette becoming the gold standard after the former’s debut in 2002. However, there is a big problem facing dating shows that stems from the same thorn in the collective side of all reality shows: After 20 years, there is no reality anymore.

When Survivor and Big Brother first aired in 2000, they were a fresh take on a blossoming new medium: Reality Television. Granted, MTV had been bringing reality to television since 1992 with The Real World, but these two shows were the first to really gain a foothold in the collective imaginations of a nation used to scripted dramas and multi-camera sitcoms.

Since then, interest in reality television has never waned. Even with all of the interest and demand for reality programming, though, there is a glaring issue with the medium: It’s not “real” anymore.

The Bachelor and The Bachelorette thrived thanks to popularity of the concept: Men and women choosing their future wife or husband from a pool of candidates. While game shows like The Dating Game featured contestants going on dates, The Bachelor’s goal was to have an engaged couple by the end of the season.

It didn’t take long for the uniqueness of the concept to wear out. Not only are there far fewer happy endings after the final rose ceremony, but the bigger problem these days is that there can’t be a happy ending because half of the contestants are “cast” to fill a “role” while some are hiding secrets for their big break on television. It went from casting a group of 20 male or female contestants looking for love to finding “the bad girl” or “the mysterious guy with a past” to draw in more eyeballs.

In other words, we have no way of knowing what a contestant’s true motivations are until they blow up at the worst possible moment. How many contestants are actually looking for love?

What if producers could turn the show on its head and help the Bachelor or Bachelorette make a much more educated decision?

Every season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette features the same problem with the same setup: Mean Girl Karen is causing problems for the other contestants, so Good Girl Mandy tries to tell Bachelor Brad that Karen is making the house miserable. He doesn’t believe it because he thinks she’s nice, so he ends up sending Mandy home and keeping Karen so that their relationship can blow up later on. Ultimately he doesn’t propose to anyone, or if he does that relationship fizzles quickly because he never should have let go of Mandy.

It happens every season without fail.

Good-intentioned contestants try to expose one of their own for being there for the wrong reasons. She might have a boyfriend back home in case things don’t work out, or he might be angling to jump start his singing career by making it to the end with the Bachelorette.

Imagine, however, that Mandy goes to Brad to tell him about her concerns. She’s worried that he’s going to be upset at her for implicating Karen. Instead, he checks the tape.

Instant replay and video review are used in sports all the time when human judgment is not enough. Everything in the Bachelor/Bachelorette house is filmed. Cameras are always around, ready to capture every little thing. It’s not until after the season wraps and the show hits the air that the stars get to look back and see what was going on behind the scenes. They get to see Karen’s behavior for themselves. They realize in horror that they kept the wrong person and sent the right person packing.

If only they’d known back then what they know after the fact.

So why not show them?

What if the Bachelor or Bachelorette was able to watch tape when they have reason to suspect that someone isn’t being truthful? What if they could weed out the contestants who are causing problems?

Just imagine that rose ceremony!

If producers want to create actual happy endings for their shows, then they need to provide all of the tools needed to make it happen. They won’t lose any of the drama that viewers love, either; there will be even more drama when the big reveal is made and the offending contestant has to explain him- or herself knowing that there is tape that captures their behavior.

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In order to keep shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette fresh, producers must find ways to change the formula so things don’t get stale. Unfortunately, allowing stars to view tape will only work for so long before contestants know that they are being watched and they adapt. At that point, a new “twist” must be introduced to keep things interesting.

If showrunners are genuinely interested in happy endings, then the twists can be used as tools that give stars the edge in their quest for love because finding love is what the shows are support to be about in the first place.

Though drama is great for ratings, putting the drama to bed with some surprise hidden camera reveals is the best of both worlds. The “villains” are exposed and that increases chances for a happy ending.

Best of all, happy endings mean marriage specials and follow-ups later on, making happy endings much more lucrative in the long term than failed relationships that fizzle out before the final rose ceremony airs on television.

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