Smeared mascara, a negative outlook on life, and a lack of dignity.  This is what women who go on The Bachelor are chauffeured away with season after season. For the teenage girls that tune in each week, is this a harmless two-hour escape from reality or a fairy tale with questionable values?

Since 2002, reality show The Bachelor has shown countless women fall head over heels with a person they just met. Every season, twenty five girls leave their lives behind and travel to Los Angeles, hoping to meet the love of their life. A rose ceremony is held weekly. This event is hosted by the bachelor and he hands roses to all the girls he wants to stay and dismisses those who fail to impress.

Season 19 is currently on air featuring “prince farming”, Chris Soules. He is a 33 year old farmer from Iowa who spent his time riding on tractors and tending to his crops. Although he claims there weren’t many girls in his small town, his smooth moves and flirtatious personality says otherwise. Some viewers have called him the “most sincere bachelor yet”, which may be the reason thirty girls were cast on his show.

With women all vying for Soules’ attention, there’s an absolute guarantee of drama. With every passing season, the girls on the show become more and more vicious. This leaves many people wondering if this is a good show for the many young girls who watch it.

The women on The Bachelor come onto the show with smiles and leave in tears. The drama on the show keeps fans coming back for more, but is it really a good idea for this to be portrayed as normal? Each week, jealous girls fight for his attention in some of the most devious ways. They steal him from other girls and sneak into his house (or just about any place he happens to be sleeping). All of this is considered normal for the show, but not in real life.

Plenty of teenagers watch the show all across America. As they do, they witness the drama and even consider it normal. Some people worry that The Bachelor is teaching girls that the way to get a man is to put on a false personality, steal him from other women, and cause lots of drama while doing it. Young girls can simply sit at home and watch adult women fight over a man they just met. Some bachelorettes even come onto the show with a fake personality and their true character is slowly revealed.

When the contestants first arrive on the show, they act as if they are already in love with the bachelor. When most people meet, they don’t tell each other how they’re already head over heels for the other person. The Bachelor creates what the viewers think is love at first sight, but the women see it as winning. It seems like some of the girls only come on the show to be the girl “prince farming” picked over all the others. Judging by their attitudes after leaving, many of the girls were only after fame and not the bachelor. The show leaves women looking desperate and pathetic by pretending to love a man and then losing him. Of course they also look terrible for all the drama and chaos they caused along the way. However, the unnecessary drama is good for ratings.

Overall, The Bachelor is far from being the fairytale it seems to be. This reality show is more like a vicious game than a love story. As women leave season after season with shattered dreams, maybe it will prove to viewers the insincerity and absurdness of their “romances.”