The Bachelor Needs To Stop Normalizing Toxic Behavior
Written by Shannon McManus, Contributing Writer
It seems that everyone who watches television has an opinion on The Bachelor. Love it or hate it, it is one of the most popular tv shows with a strong cult following. Contestants line up to compete for the love from the bachelor(ette), with romance and drama to follow. But as the seasons continue to show the fight for love, the show has focused too much on the fight and less on the love.
In this season, in particular, many of the girls were toxic towards each other. One contestant, Victoria, would be known as the villain of the season. The villains are known to be the ones that are mean to others and make the show more dramatic to watch. Yet, fans of The Bachelor noted on social media that Victoria was different from other villains in the way of her cruelty towards other contestants. She focused on calling the other girls names, isolating herself from the group and being outright cruel.
Another contestant, Anna, went as far as this season to spread a rumor that Brittany was an escort and entertains men for money. This statement was later revealed to be false, but the sentiment and intention behind the rumor were toxic. The claws came out and this behavior was both unsatisfactory and problematic.
Moments like these were highlighted in the show and allowed for the toxic contestants to have a lot of screen time. Regardless of the plans, the producers have for pushing the girls, The Bachelor franchise is giving a platform for people like Victoria and Anna and others to spread their negative and harmful messages. With no drama and everyone getting along, it can be argued that the show would not be interesting. Which begs the question of how much drama is there purely for show?
It is no secret that people watch reality shows for the drama, which leads people to believe producers keep the toxic people on. Many comments on social media point out the fact that Matt James did not look remotely as interested in Victoria as the other girls, yet she stayed on for a large portion of the season. Many comments even bring up the idea that Matt was excited to not give her a rose. True or not, people are not liking the level of toxicity this season.
As contestants continue to leave the show, they often post about how they built strong friendships and had so much fun with the others. Pieper James, a contestant recently sent home, posted on Instagram with a caption including, “My heart is so full of love from the friendships I made.” Yet, we hardly see these friendships form on television, especially in this season. Instead, we see highly toxic and normalized horrible behavior.
The Bachelor should focus more on the love and the friendships that can be built from the show before they continue to lose respect. With Chris Harrison under recent fire for his defense of racism, more of the toxicity behind the scenes are coming to light from The Bachelor franchise. Former stars are sharing their experiences once they are off the show and many times they are not positive. The producers are often to blame, but they continue with their toxic behavior nonetheless. For a show that is based on someone finding love, the focus hardly seems to be on it.
Overall, this season of The Bachelor has largely rewarded the rude contestants and gave them a platform. While I understand drama is important to entertain an audience, this season specifically created a toxic environment that harmed girl’s self-perception and lives in and out of the show. The people in The Bachelor are real people with emotions, and are impacted by words said to and about them.
The Bachelor has the potential to give people the chance to find love, but it should not be a show that promotes hurting other’s lives. While I will still watch to see how the season plays out, I am hoping that the level of toxicity can tame, or at least have more contestants face consequences for how they treat others — not face more screen time.
Sources:
Colclasure, Jamie. (2020, November 29). The many times ‘BACHELOR’ contestants have called out producers. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://www.tvshowsace.com/2020/11/28/many-times-bachelor-contestants-called-out-producers/
James, Pieper [pieper_james] (2021, February 18). [Photographs of Pieper smiling with the contestants and Matt James on the Bachelor set]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/pieper_james/?hl=en