'The Bachelor': Trolls need to stop shaming contestants while giving show creator's murky past a free pass
Contestants on shows like 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette' are more often than not the target of trolls online who slam them for using their screen time to garner fame.
Fans are now wondering what's so wrong with that if the creator of 'The Bachelor', accused of domestic violence, is still running a successful show about love?
Hannah Ann Sluss, whose screen time has gone from villain to hopeless romantic, announced her YouTube channel on Wednesday, February 12. She was immediately slammed by fans on social media claiming it was so obvious that she was in it for fame.
"In it for the right reasons!" said one fan sarcastically while another trolled, "Making it so obvious." This was clearly Hannah's way of capitalizing on the visibility that the show has given her and seriously, what is so wrong with that?
One fan summed it up in a comment, "I'm not sure what people want from contestants. You get dumped on national TV, you get hate from random strangers, everyone judges you.... and yet you're not allowed to take advantage of the positives, you're just supposed to deal with the negatives? Because of love?"
"Lol. Funny how even the successful couples shill, but nobody looks down on them for it," the comment added.
Another said, "The thing that kills me the most is Mike Fleiss, the creator of 'The Bachelor', is a known woman abuser but everyone is fine watching his show and lining his pockets, but when the girls who get torn apart on the show and by viewers want to make some money off of it? Completely ridiculed."
"There’s absolutely nothing wrong with getting paid for the entertainment you’re providing. Use what ya got," the comment added.
Fleiss's incredible career in media and television is dotted with some dark accusations and criminal charges. In 2014, Fleiss was charged with harassing 'Baywatch' star David Charvet and his wife, actress Brooke Burke.
"Charvet and Burke complained Fleiss initiated a campaign of terror and harassment against them, making physical threats and blaring barking dog sounds at all hours from huge speakers pointing at their property," TMZ reported, as it broke the story. They were neighbors at the time. The case was eventually dismissed.
The other controversy took place more recently. His second wife, former Miss America Laura Fleiss filed for divorce in July 2019 after five years of marriage.
They reconciled later, but not before some serious dirt was flung around. She even filed a temporary restraining order against him after he allegedly "demanded" that she get an abortion and even "threatened" to end their marriage if she didn't.
Variety reported at the time, that he allegedly "grabbed (her) body" and "forcibly pinned (her) up against the wall." He yelled and threatened to "punch her in the face."
They reconciled in November last year after the nasty split, and she tweeted claiming that it was all an "emotionally charged incident" where they "both exhibited immature and irresponsible behavior."
She also clarified that her husband didn't want to hurt her "intentionally" — and that was the last anyone on Twitter has heard from that official account.
Fans think that even if they could give him the benefit of doubt after this storm of an incident, it doesn't change the fact that he is a controversial figure. And that brings us to the contestants on the show, who have done things on reality TV, which could easily just be a cleverly edited narrative.
Shaming the contestants for trying to salvage whatever positives they can find in the crazy world called 'The Bachelor' really needs to stop, fans say, especially when the creator of the show has had a love life splattered across the news, for all the wrong reasons. You do you, Hannah Ann.