For the last 22 years ABC has aired the hit reality television shows, “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.”The two shows feature one single bachelor/bachelorette to choose from a group of eligible contestants to spend the rest of their lives with. People are drawn to this show including myself because of the journey and the mess that these people face to choose one person to marry. There is also the drama that keeps people coming back. Dozens of people living in one house and competing for someone’s love is bound for disaster and drama. However, even though the point of the show is to find your “soulmate,” I don’t think that a reality show is the best way to go about it.

First, as a consistent viewer I constantly find myself asking the same question, why would someone go on this show? I believe that there are two possible answers. The first being that people just want attention. Millions of people are at home watching the show and the amount of attention one could receive is appealing to many. There are so many contestants each season that go on the show and just cause drama and mess around. The point of the show is to get the attention of the bachelor/bachelorette and make them want to choose you, but these people do the exact opposite. But the interesting thing is that the other contestants will complain and complain about how terrible these types of people are but somehow they always get a rose. They never leave the show because they cause drama and make it interesting for the viewers. On the other hand, the other answer is that people are so desperate to fall in love they audition for a show that forces them to work for one person’s love. Though I’ve never been in a relationship, I feel like there is a surplus of ways to find your match in the real world, and not on a show that feels partially scripted.

Another thing that I find strange about the shows is the whole idea of dating multiple people. I feel like if you feel comfortable enough to go on a show surrounded by people you are attracted to and cheat on them with multiple other people, what will stop you from doing it outside of the show. It doesn’t feel right that you are competing with other people when the person you are competing for is going around telling other people things the same thing they are telling you. Many times in these shows, the bachelor/bachelorette will go around telling multiple men or women that they love them. Saying “I love you” is a very big thing for most people so being able to say it to multiple people at once seems wrong.

Finally, there are very few couples that are still together today. There have been a combination of 48 seasons from both shows, and only 28 of those couples are still together. Only four of the couples are from “The Bachelorette”. This shows that a good amount of the couples don’t even workout in the end. I think that these shows are amazing for entertainment and definitely know how to grasp an audience. But, I would stick to the real world when it comes to looking for love.