Is "The Bachelorette" Chris Harrison Becoming Too Hypocritical?

There's a huge part of me that agrees with what "The Bachelorette" and "The Bachelor" host Chris Harrison recently said in his commentary on EW.com. But there's also a nagging part of me that just wonders if the producers, writers and now host of a show are just a tad hypocritical.

So here is this reality television dating game show on ABC. The contestants are invited in to "find love." The only hitch is the show finds a way every season to find an oddball, a villain and a saint. The saint is always the person looking to find love by the way. It doesn't matter if it's Brad Womack who jilted two women in a previousfinale. The person looking for love possesses the eyes we see the show through-regardless of whether majority truth seems to play a factor.

Let's take this season for example. The producers, writers and host of "The Bachelorette" opted not to tell Ashley Hebert that her suitor Bentley Williams was bad mouthing her every chance he could get during on camera interviews. Host Chris Harrison even kind of bragged about the fact that the people who are responsible for the show knew about it but opted not to make her aware of it. So what happens? That creates A) a villian, B) lots of drama and C) empathy for Ashley in pursuit of finding this so-called "true love."

Now I don't have a problem with reality television shows slightly fabricating, scripting or producing a show in such a fashion that yields such results. But what bugs me about "The Bachelorette" this season is that Harrison goes on the record and says that the media, bloggers and paparazzi are basically creating mis-information or being overly critical of Ashley. If that doesn't seem hypocritical to you, maybe you should read some of his comments on his blog/commentary on EW.com. Maybe his latest commentary is just part of the overall "Bachelor" game.

Harrison says it's unfortunate these days there are "tabloid magazines that go to incredibly desperate lengths to stir up a story, bloggers who have absolutely no culpability for what they write, and paparazzi that could care less about the people they are hunting down." Sound a bit like the entire basis of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette?"

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the show is also manipulating real people for the sake of ratings and money. Sure, they can toss out the noble idea of "finding true love" as the romantic theme of the franchise. But does the show really make an effort to see that the couples are happy as they walk away from the show? If that's the case, shouldn't somebody have provided a headsup to Ashley when Bentley was saying such hurtful things on camera behind her back? The tabloids may be writing excessive stuff-but those writers didn't have an opportunity to step in and give Ashley information that would have helped her.

What about wrestler Justin faking an injury? What about Wes Hayden having a girlfriend? What about Brad Womack back for a second appearance? Here's a guy who basically dumped two girls on national television and was promptly offered another opportunity to come back into the spotlight again? Aren't these reality television characters very well aware they are tossing their own lives in front of the screaming bus that is called media, bloggers and paparazzi? Where is the freaking accountability here? Even if they are just reading scripts and partially or fully acting.

I want to go on the record to say nobody deserves to be harrassed, bugged or followed so closely they aren't allowed to live their own lives. But at the same token-does anyone deserve to complain when somebody writes about them when they volunteer to become public figures or celebrities? I guess to a certain extent when things go beyond truth I can understand this thought. But we all deserve to have opinions about a prime time television show that is delivered for our viewing pleasure, right? That's what stirs the pot and keeps the show as extremely watchable. The buzz and hype is a huge "get" for ABC. Just like the old cliche, any publicity is good publicity.

Chris Harrison should probably know better as a host of the show to blame the exact publicity the show thrives upon. All the hype, even misinformation and buzz written about "The Bachelorette" and "The Bachelor" is what fuels the show. It's the icing on the cake that makes the cake so darn delicious. Maybe Harrison believes these are words he needs to say to come across as the innocent good guy hell bent on making sure these couples walk away happy. Maybe he's just playing the game.

But if they really wanted couples to be happy-wouldn't they just let people find love on their own and not offer to pay people to dump their personal lives and garbage in front of millions? Not to mention ABC promotes "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" series as much as any other show on TV. And they certainly don't promote the boring parts. You wouldn't even have to watch the entire episodes to know that Bentley was portrayed as a jerk-you just need to see the previews.

Ask guys like Wes Hayden-who has YouTube interviews where he says he was basically edited to be a villain. Wes admits a lot of his show was manipulated by producers of the show. He became the villain of villains before being kicked off for having a "girlfriend." Wes compares "The Bachelorette" series to wrestling. Here's a guy who believes he was being set up to be the bad guy from "day one."

Then there are the people who go on the show just seeking fame-and that certainly isn't restricted to just the male or female suitors. The people who become "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" are paid. They may not truly be actors but it certainly doesn't stop some of them from hamming it up or playing the parts.

We've seen many suitors going to tears way too early on the show in an effort to seemingly get their names out there. "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" are sending strong messages to potential participants that controversy sells. The result could be a future spot on "Bachelor Pad" or on one of the other main franchises. "Bachelor Pad" is living evidence of that. Look who ABC casts to be on that show. The producers go out of their way to pick the most controversial people from their respective season of "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette."
For that reason, it does make good or at least interesting television. The writers and producers aren't TV beginners. In fact, they definitely make sure the chemistry isn't great and that often provides for fireworks. It's a formula that continues to work and continues to draw nice ratings. But the show wouldn't be nearly as popular without the bloggers, media and paparazzi pushing these normal people into celebrity status. Why else would Brad and Emily be nearly household names? The show definitely is the major component in that but it's not the only natural cog in this process. Sometimes you wonder if writers or producers are disseminating information of their own behind closed doors to get a little more hype. Then the tabloids suddenly are to blame. It just doesn't seem realistic that the tabloids are digging this stuff up on their own.

Harrison points to these tabloids stretching to create a story. That kind of seems strikingly similar to what "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" does on a weekly basis. This season with Bentley certainly made it seem as if he was thrust into the spotlight, perhaps even paid, to be the villain. Maybe that's not the case and the guy is an actual big jerk. But what Harrison and ABC should realize is that the process of the show created that character regardless. The info we have collected, as fans or writers, comes mainly from what the show gives to us. If Bentley isn't a jerk, then don't portray him as one. What I can't get through my head is how the show turns regular people into celebrities, love them or hate them,and then complains about the end result. The show can make Ashley come across as the whiniest, most indecisive person on the planet and then wonder why people write and believe that way? It's kind of mind boggling that Harrison would take to the defense of Ashley and say criticism is unfair when it is his show that makes many people develop this opinion. Again, maybe he's just playing the game because there's a certain amount of people who will empathize with Ashley and tune in to watch her.

The bottom line is I do enjoy this show on a weekly basis and I enjoy writing and talking about it. Sometimes it doesn't seem as if we are watching real people trying to develop real romances because of the editing and producing of the show. It just doesn't seem plausible that guys like Bentley could be that mean or girls like Ashley could be that whiny. There's probably a small bit of truth to those elements but it seems the editing of the show definitely casts a larger shadow that actually exists. Maybe it's just the paid acting. For that reason, I think it's safe to say the franchise has grown quite hypocritical. I'll still watch it with a bit of skepticism as I always have-but in the end it's easy for me to remember it's just fun entertainment. But it would be nice if it wasn't always over-portrayed as this "special" voyage or "journey" for people that suddenly aren't subject to criticism.