Many women dream
of the moment their significant other will get down on one knee and ask those
three magic words, “Will you marry me?”
For Becca and the viewers, it appeared that she was finally going to get
her happily ever after with Arie. Then,
in a shocking turn of events, we watched producers film what they lauded as a
completely unedited, two-camera angle scene, showing Arie confessing his love
for the “other girl,” ending his engagement, and leaving most of Bachelor
Nation feeling duped.
As I write this, I am painfully aware that anything I say must be taken with a grain of salt. We all know that television is geared at ratings and that many of the fairy tale endings we witness on the last episode of the Bachelor end up not translating to the real world. There have certainly been other questionable bachelors who audiences discovered did not turn out to be as genuine as they were initially portrayed. However, when the first thought that crossed my mind while watching this scene play out was Juan Pablo is looking pretty good right about now, you know this situation is alarming.
Let me also preface this by saying I wasn’t invested in this season of the Bachelor as much as I wanted to be. I always thought there was something off with Arie, and I couldn’t quite place it. Despite this, I too am a sap for happy endings and tuned into the finale hoping for one. Here are the rest of my thoughts, in no particular order.
Arie had no business getting down on one knee if he was unsure that he was making the right decision. Becca echoed this sentiment. She didn’t deserve this. No one does. I also question whether he really fell in love with Becca at all, or just fell in the love with the idea of her. She’s intelligent, smart, and knows what she wants. She didn’t appear to be as guarded as Lauren, and I feel like we got to know her better than Lauren, yet something was off. What was it?
When Becca walks into the house and mentions how gorgeous it is, I felt a horrible pit forming in my stomach. I’m sure producers probably told her some lie about how they were going to film an update of their life now. It was an unsettling feeling that only grew more once they began talking.
For much of this extended, unedited scene, we repeatedly hear Arie saying he’s going to leave and instead he paces throughout the house, has the nerve to ask Becca if she’s ok and then decides that he still wants to talk. Again, putting aside the biases that go into creating a television show, what man decides to go on television and break someone’s heart and then continues to stick around after she tells him to repeatedly leave? I literally was screaming at the television, “OMG, just go already!”
Arie’s choice of words that this will likely make him “unpopular” has to be the understatement of the year. Again, this goes back to uncertainty. If you weren’t sure, you shouldn’t have proposed. And furthermore, let’s stop and ponder a moment about whether or not Lauren takes him back. She was also humiliated and heartbroken when he sent her packing. Will his apology be enough to pick up the pieces?
If anyone deserves to be the next Bachelorette, it is Becca. For anyone who thinks this was a carefully orchestrated plot on behalf of ABC, I say anything’s possible I guess, but I also highly doubt anyone willingly chooses to be made to look like a fool.
I’ll be tuning in tonight just like the rest of America to see how this all plays out, but I suspect there will even more boos tonight than last night when Arie takes the stage. Is anyone else getting Jerry Springer vibes?
