The Prince Farming season of The Bachelor starts in a few short hours and Bachelor Nation is gearing up for a fun night of fantasy brackets, drinking games and snarky tweeting. I'm only a little bit embarrassed to admit that I'm really looking forward to it. As I said back in 2009 when I starting watching the show again, on a cold winter night in Chicagoland it's lots of fun to settle in on the couch and enjoy the mayhem.
As I ponder this show and it's weird place in the universe, I've been wondering: What do you suppose it feels like today to be one of the women on the show, waiting for your big moment in the sun or possibly in reality infamy. The show completed filming the week-end before Thanksgiving, so each woman objectively knows what her experiences were, but they have no way of knowing how each episode will be edited and how they'll come across on television. Many former participants have confirmed that the show is, in fact, very heavily edited; that they didn't really say what it looks like they said, and sometimes that they didn't really do what it looks like they did. On the other hand, given that this is the 19th season no one can claim they didn't know what they were getting into. I also saw the contract participants have to sign and it said something to the effect that they were signing away their right to sue the producers for making them look bad on television, even if what's shown is completely misleading and untrue.
I've also been wondering if any of the women are disappointed about the travel schedule. Over the years the show has turned into something of a worldwide travelogue, so much so that I've come to believe that the chance to see the world is one of the reasons to go on the show in the first place. There have been many rose ceremonies where they all raise their champagne glasses for a toast then start cheering when The Bachelor tells them to pack their bags because they're going to Barbados, or New Zealand or South Africa. Not this time. Word on the street is that as part of the "down on the farm" narrative, most of the episodes are filmed in the states and only the final three women get to travel to Bali for the Fantasy Suite dates, then it's back to Iowa for the final rose ceremony, which takes place in a barn.
So with a h/t to Aaron Sorkin, gather ye rosebuds, Bachelor Nation, gather ye rosebuds. It's almost Bachelor time.
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