NO ROSE WITHOUT A THORN
Public humiliation fails to deter potential contestants on The Bachelor
Almost every year, The Bachelor ends in scenic wilderness — perhaps on a cliff overlooking the ocean — with a woman in an evening gown and a man down on one knee, holding a Neil Lane diamond engagement ring as the music swells.
But first, The Bachelor starts at a casino near the Baltimore airport. Or a lounge in New Orleans. A hotel in Fort Lauderdale. A Hard Rock Cafe in Denver. This year, each will hold open casting calls where, without fail, thousands of potential contestants across the country show up.
ABC’s hit reality dating show franchise is in Season 32 this summer as JoJo Fletcher looks for love on The Bachelorette. The audience is savvier, live-tweets from viewers are more vicious and the show has increasingly become a parody of itself. The potential for public humiliation has never been higher.
None of that matters. People still show up. But why?
At the Maryland Live Casino around 5:30 p.m. AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long blasts at a deafening volume throughout a dimly lit bar and dance floor. As the bright lights of the slot machines shine in the distance, dozens of women arrive to fill out applications that ask questions including “Do you drink alcoholic beverages?” and “Are you genuinely looking to get married and why?” and “Do you have any tattoos?”
Some are decked out in short dresses and stilettos. Others came straight from work and are in jeans and blazers. One by one, they pose for a photographer and are instructed to wait on the other side of the room, before they’re whisked away for a private video interview. At this point, everyone in the room knows the drill with The Bachelor franchise: The absurd drama, the fights, the hot tub dates, the way contestants slowly lose their minds as they’re cut off from the world while filming. The chances for an actual, lasting relationship are minimal. But as it turns out, people will risk their dignity in search of love.
“You can go to the bar, you can go to the club scene, or you can go on TV,” says one Bachelor hopeful named Emily. “I want to find someone to marry. I can’t find someone in D.C. So why not see what’s out there?”
By far, that phrase (“Why not?”), is the most common explanation.
“What do you have to lose?” 29-year-old Abby chimes in. “Nothing, really. Yes, a lot of people have not found love. But some people have.”
Technically, this is true. Five out of 31 couples on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have ended in marriage, and that’s not counting the couples born out of spinoff Bachelor in Paradise or that have met at Bachelor-sponsored alumni events.
Those odds are enough for some women — and even some parents. Samantha, 27, just moved to Baltimore and hasn’t had much luck with the dating scene. She has been watching The Bachelorette this summer with her father, who was the one who urged her to go to the casting call. “It’s unconventional, but you’re always looking for Mr. Right,” he told her.
However, the daughter Mom and Dad would see on TV probably wouldn’t be the daughter they actually know. Reality TV is known for manipulating situations and editing people into “characters,” either heroes or villains, for whatever fits the most entertaining story.
Yet many people trying out just aren’t all that concerned.
“I mean, you have to just be understanding of like, they are trying to get ratings, so if you call a girl a b--- they’re probably going to put it on the show,” says Kristen, 26. “That’s just being realistic. But I’ve never seen a genuinely good person on the show portrayed as an evil person.”
As the hours go by, the crowds die down. Sandy Mehlman, a casting director who has worked with the show for the past four years, takes a quick break to survey the action outside of the interview room. No media is allowed back there — it’s only for contestants to sit down on camera with a producer, who will judge whether they make the next cut or get tossed aside.
Mehlman doesn’t say exactly what producers are looking for beyond “single” and “a lot of energy” — they know the right person when they see them. Still, she loves the casting calls, because even though Bachelor hopefuls think they’re savvy, even the most confident person comes into the interview room looking terrified.
One unexpected perk? Some people have become friends or even got engaged to people they’ve met at casting calls — which, frankly, should be its own spinoff.