wo seasons of the famed reality TV franchise The Bachelor flew by in a few short weeks. Duncan Greive asked what those involved lost in the rush.

Reality TV is something of a paradox – watched by large ufabet (albeit shrinking) audiences

It wasn’t obvious at first. Aside from pandemic preventing any overseas travel, The Bachelorette seemed familiar enough.

Lexi Brown. It seemed to pick up speed as it went along, then raised eyebrows by ending after just 12 episodes, with her finding love in the arms of Northland lad Hamish Boyt (they appear to be very happy).

At the same time, the network revealed a shock twist: The Bachelor, previously on a long hiatus, would start in the same time slot, immediately following the conclusion of The Bachelorette.

This was a major coup. The Bachelor franchise is nearly two decades old, and for years relied on the conceit of a regular person trying to find love among a brood of members of the opposite sex. It was not unproblematic – most casts have struggled for diversity; the whole conceit is clearly heteronormative and rife with potential for emotional harm. Still, it’s a lot of fun to watch, and can be practised in a controlled way which leads to genuine connections, as with The Bachelor season one couple Matilda Rice and Art Green, the latter of whom now hosts the show.

In any ordinary series of The Bachelor, this would have been surmountable with time and production effort. But time seemed to be the one commodity this show didn’t have.

We wrap up tonight just 30 days after the series debuted,