Throughout history we have experienced a collection of competitive events that have kept viewers on the edge of their seats. These events include the Olympics, first held in Athens,Greece in 1896, the NBA Finals, first held in 1947, and the Super Bowl, first held in 1967, just to name a few. However, as time has gone on we have continually overlooked one event that is both more competitive and more impactful on the lives of the participants than all of the previously mentioned events. That event is, of course, The Bachelor. The Bachelor began in 2002 featuring Alex Michel accompanied by 25 women. To those wholive under a rock, or are too “macho” to watch the show, I will give a brief overview.
The Bachelor takes one man, searching for love, and places him in a house with 25-30 women. These women compete to win over his affection through a series of dates/activities. Each show roses are handed out to those who get to move on to the next set of dates. By the end of this process there are two women left. The bachelor then decides which he wants to propose to and which to break up with. Tears are shed, blood is spilt, love is made.
You’re probably asking yourself, what does The Bachelor have to do with sports? I’m glad you asked. The Bachelor may not involve a ball or scoring points, but it does involve a level of competition that is unlike any other event. The sheer idea of the show immediately spells disaster. Thirty women, living under one roof, fighting for the attention of one man. These women are friendly at first, but that quickly fades. The women who are selected for the show are usually very attractive and outgoing. In most situations they do not experience a high level of competition for attention. This new environment is unlike anything they have ever experienced. For athletes, such as NBA/NFL players, they have experienced big games, maybe not to the level of the Super Bowl or the Finals, but they have played in high pressure situations. The bachelor contestants have not.
From the start of the show the contestants, one by one, meet the bachelor. This first impression is HUGE. The girls often times do something to “stand out”. In the current season a contestant named Katie brought along an item of her enjoyment that The Crossover has requested I call a “lightsaber”. This first impression intimidated all of the other women while also creating enemies right off the bat. This is very similar to Juju Smith-Schuster dancing on opposing teams logos before the game. It separates you from the others but puts a target on your back, we all know how that worked out for Juju…
After they meet the bachelor the girls head into the mansion and immediately find the nearest window to watch the next girlintroduce herself. This would be similar to the starting lineups being announced in basketball. You are sizing up your opponent, picking out who is a threat and who is weak. After the girls have introduced themselves they all sit together and mingle. This would be like having the starting offense of one NFL team sit down and chat with the starting defense of the opposing team right before the Super Bowl. The contestants then compete over a collection of weeks, not just one night or one series like most sporting events, but WEEKS. Every single night is a game 7. One mistake, from a bad kiss to a rival throwing you under the bus for no reason, cough cough Victoria, can ruin everything.
In sports there are advantages that a team can have to get an edge over the competition. These include scouting reports, teammates, and home field advantage. In The Bachelor the contestants do not know each other coming into it. They know who the bachelor is a few weeks before they arrive at the show but only through viewing his social media. Sports teams can look back at years of film to study how an offense is ran or where there are open spots in the defense. These girls have to constantly change their strategy to separate themselves from the others, while also finding the spots where they can emotionally attach each other without being a “bully”. The atmosphere is one of fake friendship and backstabbing. In a recent season a contestant had a little too much to drink, resulting in her “friends” telling Peter, the bachelor at the time, that she was “a raging alcoholic and needed serious help”. Ruthless. This one situation, along with numerous others, shows that there are no teammates there to help, it is every woman for themselves.
The third advantage is not necessarily nonexistent in The Bachelor. The girls do have one date that gives them home field advantage. This happens when there are four girls left. Each gets to take the bachelor home to meet their family. A lot rides on this date, and at times it can be a disadvantage. If Becky from Alabama takes the bachelor home to her backwoods trailer park to meet her family of moonshiners and ends up ruining everything she has worked for.
The Bachelor also encompasses competition within the competition. This would be like playing basketball but during the timeouts you would have to line up and race the other team to determine how many points are added to your score before you get back on the court. In The Bachelor the contestants are put through both physical and emotional tests to “win time” with the bachelor. The losing contestants usually go home and rip each other apart because Tiffany wouldn’t shove Jessica down to get the final rose. A few examples of these “dates” that the girls go through to get the bachelor’s time have included tackle football, pillow fights, mud wrestling, and a roast of the other contestants.
In a competition where winning does not mean just getting first, but securing happiness, anything goes. That brings me to my final point. These girls are not just competing for a ring, they’re competing for THE ring. Winning or losing can have lifelong effects on the girls. Not only do they miss out on love and a husband, but they can also become a villain in the public eye. As viewers we judge each girl based on the screen time that we see of them. You have your LeBron James’, Madison (Peter’s season), and you have your Christian Laettner’s, Claire (second most recent bachelorette).
The comparisons between professional athletes and bachelor contestants are very prevalent if you look deep enough. Here are a few.
Madison (Peter’s Season) – LeBron James
Madison was a very sweet down to earth girl that never did anything wrong, right off the bat she was a front runner to win. She never wavered from her position at the top throughout but other contestants thought that they were better. Madison also faced a lot of hate from outsiders, Hannah’s mom, not believing that she was the best.
Claire (second most recent bachelorette) – Christian Laettner
There has never been a bachelorette that has been so overwhelmingly disliked by viewers than Claire. She did everything wrong, she skipped the dating process and went straight to marrying the first guy she had a spark with. She also ignored all of the other guys besides Dale and kicked people off for no reason. Awful.
Tia (Arie’s Season) – Andrew Luck
Tia was loved by nearly everyone. She was in the top three for nearly the entire season but ended up being sent home earlier than anyone expected. After she was kicked off there were rumors that went around that she would come back as the next bachelorette, but the never panned out.
Crystal (Arie’s Season) – Grayson Allen
Crystal, in my opinion, was one of the best contestants the show has ever had. She was a genuine girl who did everything right but had a bad rap because of one little mix up with the wrong woman at a cocktail party. People hated her for reasons that had no substance (her voice), but some people like myself liked her for that reason. She was a great contestant and should get more playing time.
Hannah Ann (Peter’s Season) – One of the Ball brothers
Hannah Ann was America’s sweetheart, she was beautiful and had a great personality. She may not have been the oldest girl in the group, but she did end making it all the way to the end. The comparison here is the parents. Hannah Ann’s mom was psychotic, she would not let Peter be with anyone but her daughter. She said her daughter would win and that God told her just that. She then blew up on Madison (LeBron James) for being a bad person when she had done absolutely nothing.
Hannah Brown (Colton’s Season) – Brett Favre
Hannah was the one girl that Colton was “in love” with, shehad a string of great dates and truly looked like a winner but did not end up winning it all. She then came back to be the bachelorette but ended up being very emotional and not the girl that we remembered from Colton’s season. She did not end up finding love but still has found a way to show up in the recent seasons, even when no one asks her to.
If this has not convinced you that the bachelor is one of the most intense competitive events on the planet, then I don’t know what will. Thirty-two women fighting for one man’s attention, while living together, being put through numerous physical activities, and being judged by an entire nation is unlike any other watchable event. No NBA, MLB, NFL or NHL player has ever had to worry so much about what they wear, what they say, how they act, how they kiss, how they smell, how they handle stress, etc. Bachelor contestants are built different, yes maybe a little crazy, but when you face the competition that they are, a little crazy is needed. Every rose ceremony seems like the 4thquarter, each date is a game 7, and every cocktail party is a WWE Royal Rumble. The crazy thing is that all three of those things happen every episode. So skip watching football, basketball, and baseball because The Bachelor is where the real competition is at.
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