Over the years, the show "The Bachelor," as well as its counterpart "The Bachelorette," have both followed a formula. This consists of thirty women or men coming onto the show, getting narrowed over about two months, until only one remains. In the end, there is always a grand proposal and exclamations of love, but a viewer has to be skeptical.
Who could fall in love and dedicate their lives to someone they just met?
Many people go on the show, realize this sped up dating life is not for them (as it really isn't for most sane humans), and leave to go pursue real-life options and expectations.
This season, the traditional formula was on its course… until last week.
Colton Underwood, a 27-year-old man with hopes of falling in love and leaving with a fiancé, changed his plans at the end, breaking that "Bachelor formula."
He stated that he was falling in love with the last four girls, and by the time he was down to three, declared his love for Cassie, which prevented him from feeling like he could go on with the other two (Hannah G. and Tayshia).
Colton would continuously mention that his heart only held the capacity to love one person: Cassie.
Whenever he was with the other women, he would feel like something was missing and that he was in some way cheating on Cassie (which, by the dynamic of the show, he is technically doing with all of the women).
I think it was notable of him to stop the traditional process from playing out.
Even when Cassie decided to leave, thinking that Colton was like the other bachelors and craved engagement by the end (which she didn't know if she was ready for, like any normal person wouldn't be after TWO months!!!), he ended everything to prove this cycle in no way needed to be followed.
Colton showed her he did not go on the show to merely settle down and get a ring on a girl's finger, but to find love.
Hannah G. and Tayshia were both wonderful women, with the potential to give him a life he desired, but in the end, his heart could only be with one woman. He did not want the two others to feel like they were a back up if he ended up going to them, because they were worth well more than that; deserving a man to put them first.
Overall, the messiness of this season gave it a flare, to prove to others in the Bachelor nation that a ridiculous formula in no way needs to be followed to a T.
I have respect for Colton, even when he threw a tantrum and hopped an 8-foot fence because he did not succumb to the pressure of the show. He proved that you can still find love through that process, without settling and ending in a failed engagement like so many others.
