“The Bachelor” and its many spin-offs make for some highly entertaining reality TV, but it often begs the question, “How real is the hit ABC series?”
Former contestants, like Catherine Giudici — who married “Bachelor” Sean Lowe — have said producers don’t make people do anything or act a certain way.
“They can ask questions and maybe guide you in an answer, but you are completely your own person and responsible for what you say and do,” she once responded to a fan question.
With the drama riding high on Clare Crawley’s current season of “The Bachelorette,” we’re taking a look at just how real the reality show really is, and while it’s not technically scripted, here are some ways the “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” producers allegedly manipulate the contestants into getting the soundbites they want:
Producers allegedly track contestants’ menstrual cycles
According to Amy Kaufman’s tell-all “Bachelor Nation,” producers “have been known to keep track of when the women in the house are menstruating,” so they can interview the contestants 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, said. “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.”
He continued, “If a girl’s feeling the butterflies for a guy already, when she gets into that state, her feelings just become more powerful, so she’s probably more willing to tell that guy she loves him. And maybe one of the producers knew she was in that emotional state and was like, ‘You know what? Now’s a better time than ever. You should do it, you should do it, you should do it!’”
They form strong connections with the contestants
Another producer told Kaufman that “trust” is key when bonding with contestants.
“The end game … is getting a contestant to open up. To do that, the contestant must feel like they can trust you,” the ex-segment producer said.
They attempt to influence who stays and who goes
While the choice of who is eliminated and who stays is ultimately with the lead of the series, former producer Scott Jeffrees told Kaufman that producers attempt to influence the lead’s decisions.
“We would say, ‘We’d like you to keep this one because she’s good for TV, and this other one we’d like you to get to know better,’” Jeffrees said.
They feed contestants lines when needed
Former contestants Brooks Forester, Sharleen Joynt and Chris Bukowski all described caving to the pressure of saying what a producer wanted during an in-the-moment interview, according to Kaufman.
“I was saying lines verbatim from producers because I’d been sitting in a stupid room for an hour and just wanted to go,” Bukowski, who appeared on the series and its various spin-offs five times, said. “You would say something you totally didn’t even believe or want to say, but they just keep asking you and asking you and asking you — just like you’re being interrogated.”
They cut clips to fit a narrative
If feeding lines doesn’t go their way, there’s always “frankenbiting.”
According to Kaufman, a “frankenbite” is a soundbite that is cut so it has a different meaning. A former editor told the author, “You can make it whatever you think. You think, ‘Oh, she’s going to say something bitchy and we’ll use that.’ No, no, no. You make whatever she does sound bitchy.”
They provide contestants with conversation starters
Before contestant Tenley Molzahn met “Bachelor” Jake Pavelka in Season 14 of the show, a producer provided her with conversation starters to make sure she stuck around.
“A producer asked me if there was something memorable I wanted to tell him, and because my name is so unique, I opted to play off that,” she told the Post in 2015. “I did a list of ‘10 things to know about Tenley,’ with the final item being that I was a good kisser. I was encouraged to be the first kiss, and I was the first kiss.
“I surrendered myself to the producers.”
There have also been reports that producers are behind some of the more … eccentric … limo introductions in the show’s history.
While some of the alleged tactics are more disturbing than others, it seems leads and contestants on the show get the last laugh as they reap in the rewards from their post-“Bachelor/Bachelorette” influencer careers.