It has to be said. It’s a mathematical impossibility that ten people would actually fall in love with the same person. The Bachelor, ABC’s successful show is a program where women vie for the love of a bachelor (they do it in reverse sometimes too), during which he whittles it down to one which he asks to marry him in the grand finale. He offers a rose at each ‘rose ceremony’ and if you accept it, you are still in.
The show has been on for nine seasons, and to the best of my knowledge there has never been a rose refusal on any show, male or female. After six weeks when there are three or four people still in the running, they go on TV and say they are in love with the chooser. They ‘have never felt this way before.’ If he/she asked them to marry them right this minute, they would absolutely say yes.
Now, I don’t want to be a negamaki personage for reality TV, but this is just plain impossible. It would be like you appealing to all 24 blind dates in a row. Not so much.
So, why do we buy it? I use the ‘we’ loosely because this is one reality TV show that I don’t always watch, and many of the friends I have don’t either. I want a graduate student to do a study on it. Is it possible? Is it because of the competitive spirit and a person wanting to ‘win?’ Then they could decide later if they really love him/her?
Let’s just say maybe it’s the attitude going in. Maybe it’s the belief that this ‘could’ be it and they need to make it work. If it’s about attitude going in, then I need to re-evaluate my dating skills. Go into each date with the belief that this is the right guy to spend the rest of my life and make it work.
I just wanted to bring it up. I realize this isn’t going to be of interest to many of my readers, so I’m asking you to tune in next week and think about the socialogical aspects of the show. It will raise you up to being able to observe the dynamics and consider it an exercise in human nature complexities.
I’m just saying…
