Jake and Vienna interviews have to be wearing on ABC fans. The question becomes whether these Jake and Vienna interviews will hurt The Bachelor, and if the ongoing drama between the couple could hurt ratings of the show going forward. On Monday night, ABC aired an interview with Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi as they discussed where their relationship has gone since they were on the last season of The Bachelor. Jake was the star of the show, and ended up choosing Vienna from a large group of women, but their relationship disintegrated in late June, leading both to lash out at the other on the magazine rack.
Chris Harrison hosted the Jake and Vienna interview on Monday night, which was actually filmed a few days before that, which showed both of these reality personalities in an extremely negative light. It was intended to show where the relationship went wrong, but instead turned into an argument on national television, with both Jake and Vienna accusing each other of “doing wrong” in the relationship. It also got pretty heated at times, with Vienna calling Jake a “fame whore,” and Jake saying that Vienna kept undermining him. They both stated that the other one had lied about statements they gave to magazines and talk shows along the way, and the interview finished with Jake yelling at Vienna, causing her to walk off the set crying.
There are two things that might become clear in regard to last night’s episode of The Bachelorette, with the first being that ABC will do anything in order to pump up the ratings of one of their shows. In order to get that interview into the two hour span, they had to cut The Bachelorette short by more than 30 minutes, and that last half hour certainly had to be the high ratings mark for the night. The second thing that is quite obvious is that The Bachelor format doesn’t work at creating long-term relationships. The track record of the show is absolutely horrible, and it often turns into a bad breakup, where ABC then makes more money reporting on “where are they now” stories. Will it matter to the ratings, though?
It is starting to seem like watching The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is becoming more about the in-house drama than the quest to find a couple who will last. More time is given to trouble-makers in the house, and each season there seems to be more people there just for the fame than to actually find love. The show flat-out doesn’t work in that regard, no matter how producers try to sell it. But; if viewers are going to keep tuning in for the elevated drama, that is what ABC is going to provide them with. Will this latest Jake and Vienna blow-up hurt the show? Probably not. It probably just got more people talking about The Bachelor, getting viewers even more excited about the next season.
References:
ABC_Bachelor_Page
ABC_Bachelorette_Episodes
