Producers of ‘The Bachelor’ Do What?!

Ok, so right off the bat, disclaimer here. I don't watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. It's not that I'm one of those people who's too good for reality TV, hell I'll watch a 'housewife' flip a table any day of the week, The Bachelor just isn't my thing. Tons of my friends watch, my mother is obsessed. A friend of mine from high school was even THE Bachelorette for one season, even then, it just didn't peak my interest. So admittedly, I really don't know much about the show besides the basic premise.

This morning I woke up, hopped on social media and my feeds on Facebook and Twitter were flooded with people flipping about what I then learned was part one of the season finale. I had to figure out what all the commotion was about. After some googling, I discovered that apparently this Arie character proposed to a woman, changed his mind and brutally dumped her in a scene that aired 'unedited'. From what I saw, it was pretty harsh.

Amazingly enough, this was not the most shocking part of my quest for Bachelor gossip. Page Six printed an interview with Amy Kauffman, the author of 'Bachelor Nation; Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure' and much of the information she revealed was interesting, but all in all, not that surprising. Like most people, I'm pretty aware that all reality shows have strategies for getting cast members to say what the want. They manipulate and edit what footage they do have to create and further story lines. It's common knowledge and contests on this, or any show, know what they're getting into. However, the tidbit that Kauffman reveals about producers tactics to get an emotional interview out of female contestants shocked me.

This is where it gets weird. THEY TRACK THEIR PERIODS.

Gross...but in actuality it's pretty genius. Seriously, though. They work mother nature to their advantage. The reason why The Bachelor/Bachelorette (or any reality show I guess) is compelling is emotion, and what's more emotional than a chick talking about a guy whose attention their vying for while they're on their period. Weird, and yes, kind of gross, but absolutely genius.

Producers “have been known to keep track of when the women in the house are menstruating,” so they can interview the love-sick contestants on camera during that time of the month.

 

“When women cycled together in the house, it created a completely different vibe,” Ben Hatta, a former “Bachelor” producer, told Kaufman. “So a girl’s now crying mid-interview about nothing, or being reactionary to things that are super small. It helped the producers, because now you’ve got someone who is emotional — and all you want is emotion.”

 

'Bachelor Nation' via Page Six