As we close in on the end of the Season 24 of The Bachelor, I feel it’s appropriate to divulge some of the show’s well-kept secrets. The producers are truly the masterminds behind the production, as we saw this season, when Victoria F.’s ex-boyfriend, Chase Rice, happened to play a concert for our Pilot Peter and her. There are many things we are unaware of that goes on behind the scenes.

The mansion where The Bachelor and The Bachelorette take place is actually someone’s home. The family who lives there rents their home to the show twice a year. Fans often swing by the mansion and the owner has been known to let them take a dip in the pool.

The ring isn’t yours to keep. If you don’t make a two year mark on your engagement, the ring heads back to production.

The food on the dates that the contestants go on actually goes to waste. The mics pick up every noise, so the food is just for show. The theory behind it is, if you’re eating, you’re not talking. Therefore, the audience isn’t getting the content they tuned in for.

The reason alcohol is prominent on the show is that the contestants are given an unlimited supply. The producers use this tactic to make the contestants more emotional and sensitive. To appear on the show, you have to be 21, which I’d say has something to do with the level of alcohol consumption on the show.

When filming, the contestants are cut off from reality, meaning they do not have access to the outside world. They are only allowed to socialize around the show. It’s from the production set to your room. They do not have access to their phones or the internet.

The contestants are also picked to play a role by producers. While it’s not necessarily considered acting, the contestants are portrayed and edited in such a manner.

The stars of the show get little to no say on their dates — the producers plan all of it. While they can suggest dates and travel destinations, it is never their decision.  The producers are truly the stars of the show.

The producers actually track the contestants’ menstrual cycles to determine when they’ll be more emotional. Former Bachelor producer Sarah Gertrude Shapiro revealed (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/20/sarah-gertrude-shapiro-the-savagely-clever-feminist-behind-unreal) in The New Yorker that her job was to get the contestants to open up to her, give them terrible advice, and deprive them of sleep. She said that she sees it now as a “complicated manipulation through friendship.”

Before the final rose ceremony, Shapiro described how she would raise the hopes of the ultimate loser. “The night they were going to get dumped, I would go to the hotel room where they were staying and say, ‘I’m going to lose my job for telling you this, but he’s going to pick you — he’s going to propose.”

This enables the producers to create their own scenarios and edit for the content viewers turn in for.

Many of us have always suspected the issues within The Bachelor and the production it puts on for ratings, but the fact of the matter is that the show gets the ratings. While I never personally would like to be on The Bachelor, people who have always dreamed of it should reconsider it. While the exotic vacations and living in a mansion look luxurious, the manipulation by producers is certainly not.

In fact, the final rose should truly go to the producers.