Why we still watch ‘The Bachelor,’ despite its low ratings

Over the 49 seasons of “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “The Golden Bachelor,” only 11 couples who met on the reality series are still together. Those odds aren’t terrible, but they’re not promising either.

After 22 years of “The Bachelor,” the concept of the show remains the same: a single man or woman (the bachelor or bachelorette) is presented with between 25 and 32 potential suitors.

For about two months, the bachelor chooses his or her spouse. The season ends with a romantic marriage proposal.

Most of these marriage proposals don’t last. The show has proven to be ineffective in creating a lasting relationship. So why is it still on TV?

Because we keep watching it. Viewership for “The Bachelor” peaked in its early seasons, briefly declined, and recently began to climb, according to Newsweek. The last season finale of “The Bachelor,” which aired in April 2024, drew 6.31 million total viewers.

It’s the show’s highest ratings in two years, according to Deadline.

In 2023, the franchise launched “Golden Bachelor,” and it was the most-watched reality TV series that year, averaging 5.9 million weekly viewers, according to Forbes.

Despite viewers’ hopes, “Bachelor” has never been the right environment to foster a lasting romantic relationship, here’s why we’ll watch it anyway.

How Many Couples From ‘The Bachelor’ Are Still Together?

Here are all the couples from “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” who are still together:

Trista and Ryan Sutter (“The Bachelor,” season 1).
Jason and Molly Mesnick (“The Bachelor,” season 13).
Holly Durst and Michael Stagliano (“The Bachelorette,” season 5).
Catherine Giudici and Sean Lowe (“The Bachelor,” season 17).
Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried (“The Bachelorette,” season 9).
JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers (“The Bachelorette,” season 12).
Lauren Burnham and Arie Luyendyk (“The Bachelor,” season 22).
Zach Shallcross and Kaity Biggar (“The Bachelor,” season 27).
Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell (“The Bachelor,” season 25).
Dotun Olubeko and Charity Lawson (“The Bachelorette,” season 20).
Kelsey Anderson and Joey Graziadei (“The Bachelor,” season 28).

‘The Bachelor’ Is Not the Right Place to Find Lasting Love

For a TV series whose sole purpose is to create lasting relationships, 11 happy couples is not a high success rate.

But most contestants aren’t exactly lucky. The premise of “The Bachelor” is so different from traditional romantic relationships that it’s hard for contestants to navigate and build a relationship that will last once the cameras stop rolling.

While filming, “The Bachelor” contestants enter a bubble that forces them to abandon everything related to the real world. Contestants must give up their phones, their televisions and even their books.

“When you’re in this ‘Bachelor’ bubble, all you do is focus on that person and be brainwashed by them,” Tyler Cameron, a runner-up on Hannah Brown’s season of “The Bachelorette,” said, according to The New York Times.

Attendees are spoiled with extravagant activities for their evening, destinations, live music and meals. It’s a far cry from the classic dating scene and couples are left disappointed when they return to reality.

“I always talk about the foundation of a relationship and when that foundation is built off of a modified TV show, a TV show where you go on all these dream dates… you don’t really spend a lot of time with the person,” Season 11 Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe said on her dating podcast “Off The Vine.”

“The relationship is so constructed and put on a pedestal,” she continued, “and it’s manufactured, and it’s a delicate foundation on which to start a life.”

Additionally, “The Bachelor” introduces unique dating habits that many contestants don’t know how to handle.

“We’ve been living in a society of what’s called serial monogamy for many, many years,” psychologist William J. Ryan told Huff Post.

In serial monogamy, people date someone exclusively for an extended period of time. Then they either marry that person or break up and do the same with someone else.

“Like on The Bachelor, I go to a shoe store and try on 12 pairs of shoes. Real people don’t really do that when they’re seriously in a relationship.”

When the winning couples finally return home, they face a series of logistical questions that threaten what they’ve built on television. Sometimes, the answers to these questions lead to the end of the relationship.

“Are you willing to turn your life upside down to make a relationship work if you end up in one? Are you willing to quit your job? Are you willing to leave your family? Are you willing to move? Are you willing to start fresh? That’s the reality, it’s not just about being in a relationship, we can all be in a relationship,” Tayshia Adams, who starred on season 16 of “The Bachelorette,” told The New York Times.

Why We Still Watch ‘The Bachelor’

Any longtime fan of “The Bachelor” knows that the show likely won’t end with a lasting relationship.

But it doesn’t matter. We still watch it with pleasure.

“The Bachelor takes us into a world that is so different from our own when it comes to dating and love that it’s essentially a fantasy,” behavior change expert Maddie Pasquariello told PureWow. “People enjoy that kind of escape in the same way they enjoy traveling or playing video games.”

Devoted viewers of “The Bachelorette” are willing to let go of reality to enjoy a romantic story and forget the realities of modern dating.

“The basic premise of The Bachelor is that we, the viewers, must suspend our disbelief and forget that every moment we see is scripted. The producers want us to believe it, and we do. We believe it because it’s fun and easy and maybe, just maybe, they’ll actually come out of it in love,” one fan wrote in a Johns Hopkins newsletter.

Amy Kaufman, a journalist who wrote the book “Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure” and has been a vocal critic of the show, admitted she still enjoys watching it for the romance.

“I can’t lie: When I see two people connect, it makes me feel like I could experience that someday. It might not be in a helicopter or on a mountain, but I can definitely have a man who makes me feel like I’m worthy of being loved,” Kaufman told TIME.

“Bachelor in Paradise” is more successful

The spin-off series of “The Bachelor,” “Bachelor in Paradise,” has proven to be the most successful version of the reality series.

“Bachelor in Paradise” welcomes several former “Bachelor Nation” stars and contestants to Mexico for a second chance at love. Rather than one potential suitor, the contestants have multiple suitors to try their luck with.

Over the nine seasons of “Bachelor in Paradise,” 11 couples have met on the show and stayed together.

“Bachelor in Paradise” may have a higher success rate because the show offers contestants a more familiar dating experience.

“It’s not just twenty men competing for one woman’s attention, but multiple men and multiple women, giving everyone a fair chance at a lasting relationship,” Collider writes. “Plus, unlike ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette,’ there’s not as much pressure to pop the question before the end.”

Here are all the ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ couples who are still together:

Astrid Loch and Kevin Wendt (Season 5).
Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon (Season 3).
Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt (Season 5).
Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour (Season 6).
Becca Kufrin and Thomas Jacobs (Season 7).
Caelynn Miller-Keyes and Dean Unglert (Season 6).
Mari Pepin and Kenny Braasch (Season 7).
Abigail Heringer and Noah Erb (Season 7).
Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert (Season 1).
Raven Gates and Adam Gottschalk (Season 4).
Alana Milne and Chris Conran (Season 7).