We all know by now that reality TV is never really as it seems; some drama is rehearsed, some scenes are reshot, some dialogue is edited. Yet part of the charm is indulging in the dishonest “reality” of it all and pretending that, for an hour, our reality is just as messy and satisfying as theirs.
Perhaps the most prominent example of a successful reality TV show is the acclaimed Bachelor franchise, including The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise. There’s just something about the emotional highs and lows that comes with competing for a marriage that we can’t help but devour.
So, naturally, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the franchise is full of secrets and lies. Still, when former Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise star Dylan Barbour took to Twitter with the intent of exposing the ABC show, it hurt us to read.
Cancel ABC and the bachelor Kinda wanna air out their dirty laundry mom got me riled up
Following this drama-stirring tweet were even more enticing posts through a Q&A spree that Barbour initiated, as he talks of his season with Hannah Brown and on Bachelor in Paradise. And, let’s just say: some of this tea is piping hot.
Jed was framed?
@megan_chill Jed
The biggest bombshell revealed from the series of tweets was that Jed Wyatt, the unexpected villain of Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette, was manipulated by the producers.
It came as a shock to many fans, since we all watched, with breaking hearts, Hannah tearfully ending the brief engagement with the season’s winner, heartthrob musician Jed. In what was one of the most dramatic seasons (even though every season is promoted this way), we were all rooting for lovable Hannah Brown to find her happily ever after.
This was not the case, when it was revealed, after the engagement, that Jed had a girlfriend back at home the entire time.
@Snodgrass_99 @megan_chill Yes
“Are you saying he didn’t cheat on Hannah?” one follower asked, to which he replied simply, “Yes.”
The villains are not really villains at all.
@CliffLegend It’s easy to make a bad person look worse, it’s hard to make a good person look bad
Okay, so we should have seen this one coming. Each season has at least one iconic villain: Barbour’s own season had the notorious Luke Parker, whose “religion-motivated” slut shaming of Hannah Brown made for some juicy scenes. In Peter Weber’s season, there was Tammy, who always loved starting as much drama as possible (although the real villain, in our eyes, ended up being Peter’s very own mother). Clare’s season had Yosef, who was last seen shouting insulting remarks at the oldest Bachelorette, and now with Matt James’s season, we have Victoria, the self-proclaimed queen and brutally honest troublemaker.
Yet, Barbour’s tweets imply that these villains are not always so bad, and that the producers do some heavy editing to make them appear to be different than they really are.
@good_girlKK Nothing to me but they encourage some to do things that are clearly not in their best interest
@goldsugar_rush_ Yes all the time. You gotta understand the game. They get paid off you doing shit that warrants screen time.
Producers have a ton of control over the show.
@bachelorfanpag1 Inadvertently
This was another one that hurt. We love believing that Hannah Brown kept Luke Parker around because she had feelings for him despite his toxicity, because we’ve all been there. But, as it seems, producers control a lot of who gets to stay, who gets to go, and, “inadvertently,” who ends up victorious.
@dtosborn11 Nearly all control
@CasieKamph Yes
Our long-awaited question has been answered: they have help at the first rose ceremony.
@Breeeezzyyy They come out, say 3 names, and go back
We’ve all been wondering: how do the stars of each season remember all of the names at the first ceremony, after only having talked to each of all thirty contestants for only a couple of minutes? Thankfully, Barbour put our minds at ease. Apparently, they say three names before retreating back-- presumably, to find out the next three names.
Despite all of this, sometimes we really do witness love.
@HorchataMendez Depends
So why else would we watch, if everything is fake? Barbour assures Bachelor Nation that a lot of it is real; contestants really do have good conversations, love can really happen, and not everything we see is fabricated.
@scattergreat Def good convos, but some are forced
@devtron25 Oh yeah bro I’m chilling. But it’s about the other 99% of people who don’t have the same outcome that hannah and I were lucky to have
Best of all, Barbour reassured us that his relationship with Hannah Godwin is very much so real. Thank God.
Sometimes, it hurts to hear just how reality TV shows manipulate the content so that the audience is watching something almost entirely different from what really happens.
We love reality TV because we see ourselves in the contestants, and we live vicariously through the adventures they go through. Finding out that those we identify with aren’t really who they seem to be is always kind of a letdown.
But wil we watch The Bachelor tonight? Of course.
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