Snippet of conversation between me and Miss 16 the other day.
Scene setting: Miss 16 walks in the door after a day at school and immediately comes and gives me a hug.
Me: What’s wrong?!
Miss 16: I had a horrible, horrible day.
Me: What happened?! *thinking Mama Bear (which Miss 16 cutely calls me) thoughts of rampaging the school for poor daughter*
Miss 16: *gut-wrenching sigh* We had media studies this afternoon and we had to watch…The Bachelor. UGH! It was sooo embarrassing.
Me: Seriously? That is SO cool! When I was at high school we didn’t get to…
Miss 16: *glazed eyes appear and she reaches for her phone*
Whatever. I’ve tried for the last year or so to share the long-held mother/daughter bonding tradition of watching 20 something women make fools of themselves over one really-not-worth-it-in-most-cases guy (and in the Bachelorette, 20 something guys) but Miss 16 isn’t buying what I’m selling. Yes, she’d rather watch The Flash (her current favorite featuring my future son-in-law) or action movies with her dad. I’m all alone with my weekly guilty dose of pleasure watching the Bachelor.
Before you roll your eyes – I know how fake it is. And I know it’s not high quality, intellectually stimulating viewing. But, dammit, although it’s kinda cringy, a little voyeuristic , and some of the morals and ethics are a little dubious, it’s fun and fascinating as a romance author to watch the male-female dynamics – and even more fun to watch the female-female or male-male dynamics, play out. And yes, sometimes I get a little teary eyed at the end of the season with the proposal…for all of 5 minutes until I Google and find out the happy couple lasted about 2.5 weeks after the show finished.
Anyway, I liked the show enough to have it inspire part of one of my books, Playing For Fun. My poor hero, Ford, ends up in the crosshairs of the island’s oldest matchmaker (probably also a Bachelor fan by now I’m guessing). A local TV station gets wind of Ford’s dating escapades and suddenly Oban’s most reluctant bachelor becomes Oban’s THE Bachelor. Sort of. But without the roses and mega-expensive dates and cameras in his face.
Here’s an exclusive little excerpt from Playing For Fun, where Ford meets a couple of women who’ve come to Oban to ‘meet’ the bachelor:
Rhonda Brant
Tracey Alvarez