Yes, I admit it. I watch The Bachelor, damn it. They don't call it a guilty pleasure for nothing. It's beyond unrealistic, having people meet and get together this way, but its damn intriguing to watch the process, never forgetting how manipulated it must be behind the scenes and through the editing.
Every season host Chris Harrison wraps it up by toting each as the "most dramatic season in Bachelor history," but this season, featuring ever-controversial bachelor Juan Pablo (couldn't even shave for the proposal, the bastard), can truly be called dramatic and addictive. There have been some very unpopular leads before, but this a**hole ... don't even know where to begin. He is so polarizing, so infuriating in his lack of tact, sensitivity, the way he makes excuses for things he says that are so offensive to women, especially to the women who were falling for him. I have never seen two women walk away from the bachelor by choice, one listening to her inner voice that he was not the man for her, the other realizing that he didn't care to get to know her.
Then of his final two, even though the one, Clare (right), the night of their last date before the proposal, asked him to be honest with her about whether she was the one. She was ready to walk, but he turned her back around, very clearly making her believe she had a real shot of being the one. When at the proposal he said she wasn't, she got deservedly pissed, told him off and walked away with her head held high. His response? "Whoo, glad I didn't pick her. A**HOLE!!
He didn't propose to the other woman, Nikki, either, but simply said he likes her a lot and doesn't want to let her go. She looked disappointed but accepted his final rose. NOOOO!!! I so wanted both of these women to stand him up. Hell, even his own family warned these two about him, saying that he's often rude and, when things don't go his way, he leaves.
Throughout the season he kept using his daughter Camilla as an excuse for the way he acted or didn't act with certain women (he down right slut shamed Clare after a midnight swim he happily agreed to take with her!). Then there's his comments about homosexuals, which created a firestorm of backlash (he used the word "pervert", later claiming that his language barrier caused him to be misconstrued ... yeah, right).
He clearly had no interest in learning anything about the women he was dating, never asked them questions, constantly just moved in for kisses and touches. And when rebuffed, he would just say it was okay, making you think he was thinking "no problem, I've got others." He never seemed to listen, was oblivious to red flags flagged right in his face, and never seemed fully committed to the experience, unrealistic as it is. And, like Andi, who got fed up with his constant use of the word "okay", dumped him, I never want to hear him say okay or "I'm just being honest" ever again. But I have the feeling Juan Pablo enjoys the spotlight and will be chasing it for some time. Good thing he's greatly vilified himself with the public and will hopefully just fade away, ending his 15 minutes, which is 14.5 minutes too long in my opinion.
Love it, hate it, say and feel what you will, The Bachelor (and its companion The Bachelorette) makes for very intriguing, fascinating, often infuriating, guiltily entertaining television that I admittedly watch. Respect.
ALL HAIL GUILTY PLEASURES!
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