Yahoo News Can We Stop Making ‘The Bachelor’ Contestants Fight Each Other on National TV?
On last night’s Bachelor, the unlucky women who were dragged to Cleveland were in for a second—almost worst—surprise when they had to play football against each other to prove their love for Peter. Not only was it humiliating to watch, as a fellow woman on planet earth, but it’s the second super physical challenge they’ve had in as many weeks. Here’s the thing. It’s 2020, and it feels like it’s high time to stop making contestants physically brawl on this show.
As a quick refresher, in last week’s episode, the women had to literally pillow fight in lingerie in a faux wrestling ring. They couldn’t wear regular clothes. It had to be lingerie. For what? To sell the “sleepover” angle? I don’t buy it. Then, last night, they had to put on actual football pads and play tackle football. No, it couldn’t be two-hand touch or flag football, it had to be tackle. Seems fake, but okay.
Look, it’s obviously important to remember that reality TV is engineered to entertain us, which would mean these super tense “fights” in lingerie and football gear are probably a tad exaggerated. The producers have to find ways for contestants to show their love and appreciation in outlandish ways. That’s probably why some dude in a production pitch meeting would be like, “Okay, let’s have them physically fight each other...for the ratings.”
But the act of hurting each other to prove their love for some dude they hardly know makes the show feel even more dated. Like, 2005 called and it wants its plotline back. Even last night, as the women were brutally roasting Peter for letting Alayah back on the show, they very astutely pointed out that they had bruises from the group date that week, so Peter’s behavior felt like an even bigger slap in the face. I’m happy they stood up for themselves. They shouldn’t have to point that out, though, because they shouldn’t have to put themselves in harm’s way to earn the approval of some pilot.
And I know there have been challenges like these in past seasons, but having these two back-to-back felt especially gross. I also know that the women are just cogs in this bigger wheel and the producers are really the ones calling the shots here. I don’t need to see Sydney almost rip Alayah’s hair out to be entertained. More cocktail parties, less football pads. Thanks!
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