The Bachelor’s double standards

While The Bachelor is a beloved show around the entire country, there seems to be a disconnect around certain topics in the minds of the producers. The bachelor at the moment is the second runner-up from Hannah Brown’s season, Peter Weber. Peter is most notable for the windmill date that he had with Hannah last season. He has been very open about sharing information with the whole of the American audience; however, this would not be so openly accepted if the roles were reversed. 

The producers would never have made this such a publicized aspect of the main focus’s personality if it had been a woman. In the last season, there was even a contestant that had heavily criticized Hannah Brown’s decisions from her past, and the future decisions she made while dating other men. While the offender, Luke Parker, was kicked off the show for his misogynistic and controlling remarks towards Hannah, it was still heavily publicized to the point where it became Luke’s whole personality on the show.

Now, in this season of the show, the producers are seemingly praising Peter for the very behavior for which Hannah was panned. Hannah came back for this date in which she made all of the new girls, and even Peter, wildly uncomfortable in sharing her own side of the story from dating Peter. The producers would never plan a date for the bachelorette in which her ex came to talk all about their previous relationship because that would be seen as wrong by the entirety of the public. Even avid fans, such as Rebecca Hedges believe “the focus on these things creates a double standard for women, while also taking away from the main focus of the show.” The show’s focus on the trivial aspects of these relationships and enlarging them is a play by the producers to enrich the quality of drama on the show to get more views and keeps fans coming for more. 

The producers, on the other hand, have been able to come up with many other ways to keep the show entertaining for past seasons, but mainly because the producers purposely set up and instigate problem situations.  These planned mix-ups often cause problems that span over multiple episodes. The producers create more drama by instigating the situations, which brings us all better television…but at what cost to the show participants?