We're Better Than The Streaker At "The Men Tell All"

- The Bachelor -
We're Better Than The Streaker At "The Men Tell All"

Reality TV, at its best, takes raw and real emotions and puts it on television for us to empathize with, criticize, and dissect as if it was your senior thesis in college. At its worst, reality TV includes a streaker on a reunion special. Unfortunately, that's where we landed on Monday night during "The Men Tell All" when a streaker ran across the stage to the "horror" of "everyone" present.

Maybe quotes aren't necessary. Perhaps the contestants on Michelle's season of The Bachelorette didn't actually know that a random man was going to disrobe and run across the set enthusiastically screaming for Rodney. (That part, the streaker and I can agree on.) But given that security, especially during COVID, is high during these taped events, and that the camera was quick to find the screaming man, and that security and the streaker did a really natural "which way you going?" dance, something tells me that it was all a ruse.

Which brings me to my main point: aren't we better than this? Earlier in the night, "The Men Tell All" featured a fake subpoena being served to Willy after he "defamed" Peter and his business. It was inauthentic and, frankly, pretty lame. More importantly, both of these moments felt more like planted moments worthy of a 2006 reality reunion special.

We've evolved as a fanbase to need filler moments like this in a two-hour long special that already felt drawn out. The audience knows what is and isn't real (seriously, just look at the responses on Twitter when you search "streaker #mentellall") so when the show produces something that feels more fake than a dinner on Selling Sunset, you can't help but feel insulted.

No.

Instead of giving these stunts air time, why not just shorten the episode? Or talk to Tayshia, for real, about her broken engagement? Or the men's mental health on the show? Or the trauma purging the show has leaned into in the last few years? Or Michelle's perfectly coordinated outfits? Seriously, can we spend at least 45 minutes on the latter? We deserve to at least know where we can get these co-ords.

If this were an early aughts season of The Bachelorette, then perhaps we would have gotten a good laugh at the streaker. But after the fake make-out on Katie's "Men Tell All," I think it's time we just retire these moments completely and extend the blooper reel another 10 minutes.

Images: ABC

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