While its ratings have mostly remained steady, the Bachelor franchise may soon itself in serious trouble.
The show places a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of the lucky men and women charged with handing out the roses -- and in the eyes of many viewers, those stars have been dropping the ball in recent seasons.
The most recent example, of course, is Peter Weber.
While Peter eventually found love with Kelley Flanagan, he did so off camera, well after his season came to an end.
He also realized his affection for Flanagan only after proposing to Hannah Ann Sluss, dumping her, and half-heartedly Madison Prewett.
Not exactly the sort of high romance fans tune in for.
But in fairness to Peter, he's far from the first Bachelor/Bachelorette star to deliver a less-than-satisfying conclusion.
In fact, we only know his name due to the fact that he progressed all the way to the top three in Hannah Brown's season of The Bachelorette.
A big difference between the two, however, is that Hannah is now willing to admit she delivered a dud of a season.
During a recent Instagram Live session, Hannah revealed that she's ready to start dating again and stated that she learned a few lessons from being duped by some of the loser-y dudes who made it into her top five.
“Honesty, yes,” Hannah said when asked for the number one quality she looks for in a man.
Recognizing the irony of the fact that she fell for Jed Wyatt, who was later revealed to have a girlfriend back home, Hannah quipped:
“I feel like I should have a dating column.”
Brown went on to poke fun at herself for her inability to see through the villainous Luke Parker, who was kicked off the show only after he slut-shamed Hannah in one of the season's most infamous scenes.
“That was quite an interesting night for me. And, I wasn’t trying to be mean, but I can laugh about my own life,” Hannah said of Luke's infamous tirade.
“I thought we were making better decisions after that night, but I fooled y’all. I fooled y’all [by] still making crap decisions, but it’s OK.”
Hey, at least she has a sense of humor about herself.
Fortunately, it seems Hannah believes the painful experiences she endured after her finale have made her a stronger and wiser person.
“I really have to believe there’s something so much greater from all this and I just — I’m still on the journey of figuring it out, you know?” she added. “It’s called growing and learning.”
Obviously, Hannah and Peter don't deserve all of the blame for the fact that their seasons did not go according to plan.
Dating is more complicated than ever before, and nowhere is that more evident than on reality shows, where singles must now worry about whether or not their fellow contestants are there for the "right reasons," or simply to gain fame, as turned out to be the case with Jed.
These days, it seems Hannah's scars have healed, and she's ready to re-enter the dating scene.
“I feel like right now in quarantine’s not the best time to try to date,” she told her Instagram followers.
“But, I feel like I am in a place where I’m ready to do that—to test the waters a little bit.”
As for the rumors that Hannah is dating Tyler Cameron, the Alabama native says the two of them are just friends.
“I can date other people that are not on The Bachelor. Y’all are driving me crazy!” she said.
But hey -- who knows what might happen once we're able to put this crazy pandemic business behind us!
