Dish Of Salt: Tuesday TV Dish (Ten Reasons Why ‘The Bachelor/Bachelorette’ Annoys Me)

First Published: March 2, 2010 5:29 PM EST Credit: ABC

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Vienna and Jake PavelkaI’ve been writing for AccessHollywood.com now for about five years and my regular readers know I have a love/hate relationship with “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” I love this silly little dating show and all its cheesiness and will continue to watch it religiously. Having said that, after watching last night’s finale - where Jake Pavelka proposed to Vienna and then they did that ridiculous “On The Wings Of Love” montage - I decided I need a barf bag straight from one of pilot Jake’s airplanes.

This morning, I started thinking about why this show gets under my skin. So, here I present to you my top ten reasons why this franchise annoys me (even though I can’t stop watching it)…

Ten Reasons Why “The Bachelor” And “The Bachelorette” Annoy Me

10. Their Dumb Show Title Taglines

Jake’s season was called “On The Wings of Love.” British cutie Matt Grant’s was called “London Calling.” Navy man Andy Baldwin’s was called “An Officer And A Gentleman.” What is new “Bachelorette’” Ali Fedotwosky’s (who left Jake in favor of returning to her job with Facebook) show going to be called… “Facebook Fairytale?”

9. The Producers Create The Villains On The Show.

Poor Rozlyn Papa is the just the latest victim of this. Her so called “inappropriate relationship” with a producer on the show turned her into the most hated woman “The Bachelor” has ever seen. The promos for the show, where girls called it a “sexual affair,” only made it seem more scandalous. However, it’s been reported over and over that the girls in the house were prompted or led to say things that made it seem like it was something sexual. Rozlyn has denied that anything intimate happened vehemently.

On Jillian’s season, Wes Hayden became the villain of the show when producers played up a storyline that he had a girlfriend waiting for him back home. He too has denied this vehemently. The night he was kicked off the show he was shown saying, “I’m the only guy in ‘Bachelor’ history who’s made it to the top four with a girlfriend,” implying he pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. However, Wes has said in many post show interviews, he was being facetious and the producers edited out the rest of his sentence, which said, “Get real, dude. If I had a girlfriend, I’d be home with her right now, and I wouldn’t be putting up with this.”

Rozlyn also claimed to Steve Carbone of www.realitysteve.com last week that she saw a note in the house that said, ‘Rozlyn Papa - this year’s Wes Hayden?’ By the way, I have seen the contract for this show and it pretty much states that the producers have the right to humiliate, embarrass you or doing anything they want with your footage and interviews for the show. So, know before you go!

8. Those Hot Tub Scenes

Do we really need to watch every single season as these couples get it on in a hot tub, or worse a bathtub with overflowing bubbles. It’s just uncomfortable.

7. They Play Up And/Or Create People’s Oddities

Last season on “The Bachelorette,” Tanner Pope happened to mention he liked feet to the producers. All of sudden this became his storyline that he had a “foot fetish.” He doesn’t. He was told to play it up. In fact, several past contestants have told me that the producers ask them before they get out of the limos, “What are you going to do?” and if they have nothing special planned they ‘help’ them come up with something attention grabbing.

6. Most Of The Guys Now Go On “The Bachelorette” So It Will Make Them More Um… Popular… With The Ladies Back Home.

A certain phenomenon happens when you are one of the suitors on “The Bachelorette.” If you make it past a few episodes and beyond, but don’t land the girl at the end, single women now know you are single and ready to mingle. The second you return to your hometown, you all of a sudden become a super hot commodity. I’ve hung out with a ton of ex-contestants and it’s always the same experience. Girls are constantly yelling out their names, asking for photos, slipping them their phone numbers or telling them they have a sister or friend who would be perfect for them. Never mind the cute chick who’s already standing there with them (that would be me, in this case). While some guys have chosen to use this as a tool to get laid (uh huh, I said it) others actually just find themselves landing more dates. Unfortunately, for some reason this doesn’t work in reverse for the girls on the show. Guys are not throwing themselves at the ladies.

5. The Creator/Executive Producer Of The Show Doesn’t Care About The Outcome.

In an interview with MediaWeek in January 2009 the creator of “The Bachelor” series, Mike Fleiss said the following, “I don’t think people really care what the end result is if the story is interesting enough. And so, whether or not the couple gets married at the end I think is immaterial.”

Enough said.

4. Overuse Of The Word “Love”

I get the concept of having feelings for more than one guy and/or girl. Many of us have been there. But the way they use the word love on this show, I think cheapens the concept of it. No one was guiltier of this (at least, for me) than Jake. To stand up in front of three women and tell them all to their face he was “falling in love” with them was just so gross to watch. Plus, I can’t comprehend how you can say “I Love You” to someone (Tenley) and then dump them and pop the question to another woman the same day. If you have such strong feelings for two different people, it doesn’t make sense that you would be ready to marry one of them.

3. It Makes A Mockery Of Engagements.

Seven men on “The Bachelor” have gotten down on one knee and proposed to their chosen girl. The jury is still out on whether or not Jake and Vienna’s engagement will last… but, so far, only one of those engagements have led to a marriage - Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney. And that was after he had already proposed to Melissa Rycroft on the show and then dumped her on national television! Plus, don’t forget on Deanna Pappa’s season of “The Bachelorette,” Jason was all set to propose to her too… but she stopped him before he made it all the way down on one knee.

Of the five “Bachelorettes” we have seen, six guys presented the girls with rings. All five women were asked for their hand in marriage by their final guy during their season. While Jen Schefft was proposed to by her final two men and rejected them both. Just one couple has gotten married - Trista and Ryan Sutter. Jillian Harris and Ed Swiderski are still engaged… for now.

So in total, that’s 13 marriage proposals with only 3 lasting engagements (so far) or marriages. Popping the question to someone when you are not actually ready (because you are on a TV show or were coaxed by producers) is only making it look to the rest of the world like it’s OK to ask someone to marry you even if you are not 100 percent sure. This is something you should do only once, when you are positive this is your soul mate, life partner, best friend etc.

Although I myself did once get “engaged” (long story) to someone on a second date while on a business trip to Hawaii. Come to think of it, this was in 2004 and “The Bachelor” season seven was currently airing. So, I just proved my own point. I clearly get sucked in by the show too!

2. Their Track Record

As proven above, it’s not very good odds that you will find lasting love on this show, especially if you are the guy in the driver’s seat. Three out of 14 “Bachelor” couples remain together. Besides Jason/Molly and Jake/Vienna, Charlie O’Connell and Sarah Brice are actually are couple. They got together during season seven of the show but broke up two years later and have recently rekindled that romance. Two out of five of “The Bachelorette” couples are still together.

Although an interesting phenomenon has happened where past show contestants are now hooking up with each other. They have created a little fraternity/sorority of sorts. So, maybe more love comes as a result of this show than we think.

1. Overuse Of The Word “Most”

I’ll just go ahead and say it. This is by far the MOST annoying part of this show. Every single season Chris Harrison says the same damn thing. It’s the most dramatic, most shocking, most surprising, most romantic blah, blah, blah.

Stop it!

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