Do You Accept This Rose?: Staffers share their opposite opinions on the series, “The Bachelor”

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, every Monday night, yes. I don’t know if it’s the fact I’ve been watching “The Bachelor” since I was six or if it’s the excitement I get from hearing Chris Harrison cut off the groupdate for a surprise rose ceremony, but this show will forever be one of my favorites. 

Whether the contestants are stealing one another’s crowns or cursing each other out while fighting for the love of the same boy or girl, cuddling up with my mom and sisters to watch “The Bachelor” after a long and tiring Monday is always something I can look forward to. 

I’m smart enough to distinguish that obviously not everything that happens on the show is reality. As Bachelor contestants slowly repeat themselves season after season with only wanting the fame and followers, it’s evident the producers are behind the drama. Yeah, sometimes it’s cheesy or flat out stupid, but what’s so bad about avoiding drama in my life and living vicariously through the drama of a bunch of 20-somethings?

I always have a handful of favorite contestants and to this day still check up on their Instagram to see what they’re up to. From season 17’s Sean and Catherine, who are one of few couples to actually succeed the journey, all the way to Tyler Cameron and Hannah Brown from a recent season. 

While I love getting to know each woman on the show, I also enjoy watching their travel experiences just as much. Each season I play with the thought of applying for the show, hoping I’d get far enough to travel to Thailand and Switzerland, staying in lush hotels and going on insane excursions. I always get slapped back into reality: I’m only 16… But you never now, maybe one day.

As cheesy as most people make it out to be, I will never get tired of being reminded to tune into the most dramatic season of “The Bachelor” ever.

No, absolutely not. Personally, the idea of sitting down on a Monday night with a bag of chips excited and eager to watch women’s hair-pulls and men’s fistfights on “The Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” makes me sick. 

Watching a giant group of girls or guys throw themselves at one person and then scream at each other over it is a waste of time. And quite honestly, I don’t understand how it’s anybody’s “thing.” 

Ever since I can remember watching TV with my parents, my mom was enamored with “The Bachelor,” but my dad rolled his eyes at the incitement of a fight or every time Chris Harrison dramatically appeared on the screen for the fiftieth time. I was Switzerland, completely neutral, but it didn’t take long for me to agree with my dad on every level.

Not only are the love stories fake with several past members coming forward about the dramatics in production, but the point of the show is just crazy. It’d be insane to watch your friend pine after a guy or girl who’s also dating 30 other people, right? Yes, it is and it’s also the whole point of the show. The couples try to pose their relationships as a typical ‘Prince Charming and Princess’ love story, yet it’s altered into fighting, drama and tears. 

The series will forever plant the idea of happily ever after and true love in everyone’s mind. Not to mention most of the couples don’t even end up with one another — remember Colton and Cassie or Becca and Garrett? 

Monday night entertainment does not consist of pitting men and women against each other, fake production or fake love — and it never will.