Inside My Addiction Part 1: The Bachelor

I have a very deep, dark secret. Few people know this about me. That's right, for years I have been strangely addicted to ABC's hit reality dating show, The Bachelor(ette). Yes, I am that 40-year-old woman who sits on her couch every Monday night with a bowl of ice cream ready to watch America's newest man or woman attempt (and most likely fail) at finding love.
For those who may be unfamiliar, I ask you to climb out from under your rock. The Bachelor or Bachelorette is basically a contest to find love. One person ends up dating over 20 people at the same time and has to narrow it down each week. Of course, this gets hard because the bachelor or bachelorette feels strongly for multiple women or men. It also creates sickly satisfying drama.
What? A teenage guy can't get into watching 20+ beautiful women fighting for one man's heart or a bunch of guys ready to throw a punch for who they claim to be the girl of their dreams? I don't watch this show for the love, I watch it for all the other stuff that goes on, just like everyone else in America. (Ok maybe a little bit is for the love part.) But who doesn't love watching all the crap that happens when the Bachelorette or Bachelor isn't around? You can bet I'll be watching the season finale of Kaitlyn's season tonight.
The most ridiculous part of the show however, is that these people magically fall in love within the span of like 6 or 8 weeks. EVERY TIME! Seriously though, how have most of these people ended up with someone at the end of this time? Granted, it never lasts for most of these couples. That's probably because what works in paradise doesn't work in reality. Thanks, reality television.
I suppose the aftermath is the hardest challenge. Working on the relationship in real life after traveling all over the world on the show and fighting for love. If a couple can survive that, then chances are they can make this work.
This is probably extremely hypocritical for me to be criticizing what I claim to be addicted to, but it's true. The show is ridiculous and not realistic, but hey, everyone has that guilty pleasure.
The Bachelorette actually gave me a love connection myself, without going on the show. When I was in the 10th grade I sat next to a girl named Erika in my English class. I thought she was pretty weird and a little annoying. She would talk to me, but I would never really say much back to her. One day, specifically a Tuesday after the Bachelorette the night before, Erika was sitting in English class and was talking about the show with some of the people around her. I pretty much shocked everyone by joining right in the conversation, throwing out names, who was my favorite, blah, blah, blah. Some of the guys sitting around me were also pretty shocked in a judgmental sort of way. I didn't really care though, it was actually pretty funny. Erika and I would talk about the Bachelorette in class and not pay attention to what was actually going on. The following week, on Bachelorette night, I got a Facebook message from Erika who was also watching the show. We talked back and forth for a decent part of the 2 hour show, and that continued for the next few weeks. Somewhere along the way, I think we stopped texting on Monday nights, but it started again just in time for the finale that season. After the finale, we continued to talk and kept talking on and off for months. That September we started dating and have been ever since, watching the Bachelor or Bachelorette every season since together.
So I mean, I suppose I'm grateful for the Bachelor for that and also giving me something to look forward to on Mondays. But still. Even though the show puts heavy focus on the drama, it still is about finding love and if it works out for them that's great (although it's only worked a few times). It worked out for me!
"Love hurts, love scars, love wounds..."-Nazareth, "Love Hurts"