The Bachelor - a success

My sister and I watched the season finale of The Bachelor Monday and Tuesday and seem to have a different opinion from many other viewers. Basically to sum up the show, the bachelor went home empty handed. At the end of the season when the bachelor is to make a decision between two woman by proposing marriage and offering the final rose to one of them, this bachelor did neither. When it looked like he was going to ask for Deanna's hand, he took a moment then said good-bye... To both women! Brad Womack took a lot of flack while on the Tuesday show for not choosing anyone. This got me to thinking: Why should the bachelor be forced to chose one of the preselected women at all? With a bachelor success story rate of 20% you'd think ABC would want do something different to help these couples stay together. It would give the show more credibility as well.

Their first mistake is having the task of the bachelor finding his wife in only six weeks. I understand the network has a schedule to live by, but six weeks isn't enough time to know their annoying habits let alone if you want to marry the person. The show's second mistake is having group dates. What the heck are you going to learn about a person when she's competing for your time and attention and within a couple of hours. Then you're going to ask him to cut a few chicks after that so-called date? Good luck cutting the right one. Another mistake is having unrealistic or fantasy dates. Before six weeks time are you really going to fly a girl that you might like to Belize? Are you really going to have her choose between three Valentino gowns and drip her neck with diamonds before escorting her to a five-star restaurant? Maybe, but it's yet to happen to me!

I think this latest bachelor may have started a trend. Past bachelors are now thinking, "hey I didn't know we could do that"! But instead they are forced to make a decision and a choice just for the American public to find out that yet another bachelor couple is in splits-ville. Brad was not feeling any of the girls and he finally let them know that. I think the show should last maybe ten weeks. The bachelor should have more one-on-one dates and should be given more time in between dates to make a cut. If the show were structured differently maybe these two final girls would not have been the two final girls.

One last thing; why do the women feel that they have to accept the rose the bachelor offers? This is more pressure the network puts on the cast. The bachelor is usually a great catch on paper, but that does not guarantee chemistry. I could tell bachelorette Bettina was not into Brad at all, but what are you gonna do when he asks you to accept the rose with millions of people, producers, and directors watching? In my opinion although Brad was good-looking, he seemed a bit stiff and boring. Who knows what he's really like, heck it's only been six weeks!