Although The Bachelor’s host, Chris Harrison, tries to repeatedly convince the audience that every single season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is “the most dramatic and controversial season ever,” I finally agree that this just-ending season with Juan Pablo was in fact, the most dramatic and controversial season ever. Within a few brief months, Bachelor Juan Pablo went from the most loved man in America to the most hated. Perhaps most of us were fooled at first by his inviting accent, stunning soccer skills or the classic Bachelor “shirtless scenes” during ABC’s preview of his season before the show aired. Regardless of what melted America’s hearts, the realization that we were all completely fooled and deceived by Juan became quite apparent during the Bachelor finale and the “After the Final Rose” ceremony. It may be my extreme bitterness that is causing me to deny that I ever liked Juan Pablo; however, I was also a victim of deceit.
Before tension became undoubtedly heated during the “After the Final Rose” ceremony, we watched Juan go on his final dates with the two remaining ladies, Clare and Nikki. We were all tortured, yet again, by Juan’s surface level conversations with them, which most likely didn’t even go deep enough to ask the women about their favorite foods or even their last names. Throughout most seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, someone is proposed to at the end, and it is an emotional sob-fest of pure happiness and mushy love. However, not only did Juan reject Clare after she poured her heart out to him before unknowingly getting rejected on national television, but he did not propose to Nikki, or tell her that he loves her. He simply asked if she would accept his final rose. It was not the most romantic way to end this season of The Bachelor, to say the least. Compared to the high standards set from last season’s unforgettable proposal of Sean Lowe to his wife, Catherine, Juan and Nikki seemed forced and uncomfortable during the ending scenes of the finale.
As if the finale wasn’t boring and awkward enough, the live “After the Final Rose” ceremony probably made the ABC production crew strongly regret ever signing a contract with Juan. His “girlfriend” Nikki spoke repeatedly to host Chris Harrison on how in love she is with Juan, and how “happy” she is. When Chris Harrison asked if Juan told her he loves her yet, she responded “no” while smiling. Saying I was confused during that point is a complete understatement. The drama got even more exciting when Juan joined Nikki and Chris in front of the studio audience. Chris asked Juan several times to his face if he loved Nikki, in which he consistently responded, “I’m not going to answer that.” At that point, I, along with the rest of the world, couldn’t decide if I was more embarrassed for Nikki or ashamed that she was completely fine with Juan’s feelings toward her. In the audience members of the “After the Final Rose” ceremony was former Bachelor Sean Lowe and his wife Catherine. The couple is, hands down, the most loved Bachelor couple in America. Sean spoke out by saying that he could not wait to tell Catherine how much he loved her, and to share that love with the public, who had been following the couple’s entire journey. Juan of course disagreed with Sean. When asked what his future plans were with Nikki, he shut everyone down by saying they want to keep their plans private (good luck with that, Juan).
Whether it was the “language barrier” between Juan and the women throughout the season, or his extremely low IQ, this season of The Bachelor has definitely been a huge upset, and disaster to say the least. Fingers crossed that the ratings of the show did not completely hit rock bottom, and that we never have to see Juan Pablo ever again.
