The Bachelor- America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure
The Bachelor is an American dating reality television show created in 2002 by Mike Fleiss. Since then, there have been spin-offs such as Bachelor Pad, Bachelor in Paradise, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor Winter Games. Single contestants all across America join together in Los Angeles in hopes to be engaged at the end of the show. Portrayed to be “the most dramatic” show ever, girls and guys who are sent home typically are seen to sob uncontrollably over someone they have not spent a lot of time with during their exit interview.
Use of Social Media
Since the rise of social media, cast members have been called out for using this opportunity to build their brand instead of actually trying to find love on the show. One of the recent infamous cast members Jed Wyatt, who was previously engaged to season 15’s bachelorette Hannah Brown, reportedly had a girlfriend while he was on the show. Having outed Wyaa from home, Haley Stevens claims, “He said, ‘It’s probably not going to happen, but it’s a huge opportunity. I’m only doing this for my music.’ He only did it for his career…He wanted a platform. He kept telling me, ‘I don’t want my dad to have to help me pay rent anymore.’”
Contestants do not get paid to go on the show and spend thousands of dollars buying outfits to impress the lead and viewers at home. Rather, cast members have the opportunity to earn money after the show when they get sponsored vacations, food, makeup to promote on Instagram. These “reality TV stars” can now earn up to $7,500 per post depending on their follower count. Cast members have also been suspected of buying followers on Instagram in order to gain more sponsorships from companies.
Furthermore, stardom in the Bachelor franchise has allowed people to make appearances on television shows such as Dancing with the Stars. A couple in the franchise even have their own show on CNBC called Cash Pad where they renovate houses. Other stars have written memoirs describing their experiences.
The franchise also uses Twitter as a major social media platform, by creating gifs and hashtags or encouraging people to live-tweet. While airing, the Bachelor is usually marked as “trending” on Twitter in the US, due to how many people voice their opinions on the Bachelor and its contestants.
Criticism
The Bachelor franchise has faced backlash for the lack of diversity in its cast throughout the years, and viewers have made fun of the franchise online by creating memes. In 2017, for the first time in 13 seasons, Rachel Lindsay, an African- American woman, was named The Bachelorette. It seemed to be a breakthrough for the franchise, but the television ratings slumped by as much as 1 million viewers compared to other seasons, when the lead was white. The Bachelor has not yet seen a lead that is of color.
The Bachelor has utilized social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram to effectively engage their viewers to look forward to Monday nights, where they tune in to watch the lead continuously make questionable decisions. Other than engaging viewers, the franchise has also provided economic revenue for contestants post-show.
