On Monday night’s season premiere of “The Bachelor,” the spotlight of the first episode was stolen from the 30 beautiful contestants and centralized around two topics: Hannah Brown and sex. This season follows Bachelor Peter Weber, better known as “Pilot Pete,” on his journey after coming as third runner-up in Brown’s season of “The Bachelorette.” The couple was best known for having sex in a windmill — four times.
While Bachelor Nation thought they were watching “The Bachelor,” the episode oddly started to feel like a rerun of “The Bachelorette.” At the beginning of the show, Weber was awestruck when Brown stepped out of a limo arriving at the Bachelor Mansion. Last season, when Weber arrived at the Bachelor Mansion for “The Bachelorette,” he handed Brown a pilot pin. Brown came back to return the pin, telling Weber to give it to the girl he falls in love with.
At first, it was an “aww, that’s cute” moment, perfectly wrapping up the previous Bachelorette season for Brown. But the moment was destroyed when Brown decided to make a second appearance in the same episode.
During the second “group date,” Weber and his chosen group of women entered a venue to find Brown standing on stage next to none other than — a windmill. She proceeded to tell all the women in the group about the time she had sex with Weber, in a windmill, four times.
After the incredibly awkward sex story was revealed, Brown announced that each women would get up in front of a live audience and tell her own sex story. While episode one did not showcase the women’s stories, it’s imminent that episode two will be filled with uncomfortable, personal bedroom stories.
The explicit talk of Weber’s sex life exemplifies how “The Bachelor” franchise has put a greater emphasis on sex in recent years. Netflix recently released the 2009 season of “The Bachelor” in which single-father Jason Mesnick falls in love with one woman. They get married, and have a family. It was the happy ending Bachelor fans wanted and still have 11 years later. Jason’s final choice, Mollie, is still his wife to this day.
In 2019, Bachelor Colton Underwood’s season focused almost explicitly on sex and the inability of many women to commit to Underwood. Allegedly, Underwood was a virgin at the beginning of the show and his virginity was discussed in virtually every episode.
In 2009, sex was a taboo subject on “The Bachelor,” but as the seasons progressed, so did the women who found it less and less taboo to discuss their sexual behavior on television. I can’t help but see a slight correlation between the uptick in sex talk and the inability of these reality TV stars to commit to each other.
During an episode that should have been all about getting to know the 30 contestants who came to California to meet Weber, the entirety of it was overshadowed by talk of sex in a windmill. It was disappointing to watch “The Bachelor” franchise cling to a previous relationship solely to discuss intimate moments on national television.
