My Guiltiest Pleasure

It is that time of year again. The time of year when Kiran sits down to watch TV. Now don’t get me wrong, I love TV just like the rest of the world. But sometimes, when life gets busy, the first thing that goes in my life is the television except of course when this one show is on, the Bachelor/Bachelorette.

I’ll just admit it; this show is my guiltiest pleasure. Now, I want to clarify something before I begin, I am fully aware that it can be disrespectful, condescending, sexist, and degrading towards women/men. Perhaps it is not the most feminist show, and I will admit, I do experience severe cognitive dissonance while I watch. That being said, I watch it for a few reasons. The first is because I am, of course, a hopeless romantic. Obviously, I believe in true love, enjoy watching it come about and therefore, this show is an opportunity to see, albeit amongst some heartache, true love flourish. Moreover, I like watching the show because even though the show’s producers are mastermind editors and try to make you think one thing when really something else is happening, I am often right when I pick the final man/woman standing.

For example, once there are about 8 contestants left, even if the show’s edits make it seem like the person isn’t a contender, I can tell who the final people will be....and I always get the winner right. Call it intuition, call it hopeless romanticism, I know my stuff.

I hear a lot of criticism about how the show is fake, no one is really in love, and nothing lasts. Perhaps true, especially in many of the cases (such as Brad W. picking neither of the two final women, Jillian not picking amazing Reid, or Jason picking Melissa and then switching to Molly), there has been one case on this show which sums up pretty much why I still watch the show....

Trista and Ryan. Trista was on the original season of the Bachelor and was the runner-up, as in Alex, the first Bachelor, did not pick her. She returned later as the Bachelorette, and I still remember watching this season. Side note: for some reason, the Bachelorette seasons have always been more successful. The couples last longer so I recommend that if you are going to start watching, you begin there.

Anyways, back to my story. The guy no one thought she’d pick, Ryan, stood on the sidelines and won over her heart. He was shy, quiet, strong, confident, a firefighter and a poet at the same time, and I was his biggest fan from day. It was lovely watching their love story evolve, and even in the end, when everyone thought she’d pick Charlie over Ryan, I knew Ryan had to be the one. And he was. Today, the couple have two children together and seem quite in love.

So here’s to the real thing, this show may not produce amazing love stories all the time and its intentions may not be pure, but I watch today, a hopeless romantic, with hopes that one of those couples will beat the odds.

How lovely!