What's in an age? Clearly, something since The Bachelor chyrons feel having age listed is necessary. And as Bachelor in Paradise Season 7 draws to a close, two out of the three most-likely-to-leave-together couples have significant age differences. But are the age differences for the Bachelor in Paradise couples that bad? Or does it just seem that there are big age gaps for Mari and Kenny and Serena and Joe because the female contestants are so young?

During the Sept. 30 Talking It Out podcast, Mike Johnson asked Serena Pitt about her age difference with Grocery Store Joe. She said their age gap was the same as Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's (clearly, she's put a lot of thought into this). But as I'll go on to explain, that's not really the most direct comparison. She also brought up Mari Pepin and Kenny Braasch's age difference when Mike said your partner shouldn't be in the same decade as your parents. "Kenny and Mari would say differently," she laughed.

There's something to be said for having similarish life experiences as your partner. But it's more important that you share the same level of emotional maturity, so who am I (besides a very judgy person) to judge? But what I can criticize is that the Bachelor franchise consistently casts younger women than men and so, that trickles down into Paradise. Meaning, men like Kenny (40) and Joe (35) are on a beach with women mostly in their early 20s.