Admittedly, I am a closeted fan of bad reality television.  I guess “admittedly” and “closeted” are sort of contradictory terms.  So, I will admit to the fact that I am addicted to bad TV, but I am still ashamed of it.  It’s tough living life amidst an oxy-moron.  As a reality TV addict, I have been watching “The Bachelor” for many years and have recently dragged my girlfriend into my addiction as well.  Monday is one of our favorite nights simply because we get to relax on the couch in front of this IQ decreasing show.  Although I am a fan, I actually have a huge problem with the concept of this long-running reality success.  It is not the typical feminist argument fact that all the women competitors have a 26 inch waistline and fake breasts.  My problem is with the fairy tale aspect of it which has consistently formed relationships with high hopes that end as quickly as they began.      As a member of team Melissa and Jason for this season of “The Bachelor”, I again acknowledge that I am a faithful viewer of the show and I do form strong opinions (shocker, I know) about who I like.  However, the couple is almost always set up for failure.  Although a few couples who are products of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” have stayed together, most of the relationships have ended relatively quickly.  If you know anything about the show, you know that each season several people end up falling madly in love and seem completely convinced that this relationship is meant to be and will be the fairy tale they have always dreamed of.  How is it possible that these cast members can seemingly be so sure of their future with this person and then be dead wrong?  The answer, in my opinion, is very simple.  Take conventionally attractive people away from the hum-drum and stress of every day life and put them up in amazing houses.  Give them free food and alcohol.  Set up amazingly romantic and over-the-top dates for them.  As much as we would like to believe that it is only possible to fall in love with someone that we are meant to be with, I am not falling (no pun intended) for it.  Of course couples are going to fall in love.  There are no outside circumstances to get in the way of that.  These people don’t get to see their love interest in every day life, which is probably relatively boring compared to their life on the show.  This is why couples on “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” fall in love so quickly and it typically doesn’t last.  Once the supposed soul mates have to go back to their regular lives in which they pay bills, go to work, deal with family obligations, and much more, they realize that their relationship is not the fairy tale they had imagined.

Call me a soul-less individual who doesn’t believe in love if you want.  I can see where it may appear that way.  However, I am actually the opposite.  I have been with my girlfriend for a year and am so incredibly happy with her, but it is no “Bachelor” fairy tale life.  We have a tiny apartment that we are dying to move out of with a ton of bills to pay.  We have family drama to deal with and issues with friends and with work.  This is life.  This is what a relationship is.  In my opinion, dealing with the difficulties in life together as partners is so much more romantic than drinking chardonnay on a helicopter over the Grand Canyon.  It may not sound like it, but the idea that two people can choose to love one another through the drama of every day life is amazing to me.  The fact that my girlfriend sticks by me even though I come home from work every day with something new to gripe about makes me feel so lucky.  Knowing that she overlooks my neurotic and sometimes aggressive personality and chooses to love me anyway is awesome. 

After giving much more than my two cents about “The Bachelor”, it must be said that Jason Mesnick and his son Ty are adorable.  I watch the show faithfully and will probably continue to do so.  Some couples have been able to survive the tragic flaw of the bachelor and that’s fabulous.  Any time two people can find happiness and love together, that’s good news in my book.  However, we, as viewers, need to be able to be discerning about the lack of reality in this reality series.  Readers, fall in love with reckless abandon, but try to avoid the tragic flaw of the bachelor.