Season 24 of The Bachelor came to an end Tuesday following the two-part season finale. Peter Weber, of season 15 of The Bachelorette, and his choice of 30 women participated in what ABC called ‘the most dramatic season yet.’ We’ve seen champagne theft, retired pageant queen confrontations and an unnecessarily awkward Fantasy Suites weekend. But would this season truly be as dramatic without alleged producer manipulation? 

Reality television is infamous for its loosely scripted nature, with writers and producers on deck to boost what dramatics may already be present; the game show antics of The Bachelor are no exception. In ex-producer Amy Kaufman’s expose about the show, she notes several tactics the crew would use in an attempt to boost ratings. Some methods were milder than others, such as placing two head-butting girls in the same place at the same time, while other methods were borderline invasive, such as tracking girls’ menstrual cycles to coordinate increased emotions. 

So, it’s far from secrecy that reality television is about as real as primetime WWE Raw, but should we be rewarding potentially invasive and unnecessary manipulation? I think not. Admittedly, I’m not attached to The Bachelor like some of my peers are. In fact, this is the first year I’ve watched the show. While I’ve enjoyed some of the hilarious high jinks, like the great Champagne-Gate, I’ve scratched my head at others. Collectively, fans on Twitter were confused and angered the final three women had to share a single hotel suite in the show’s highly anticipated Fantasy Suites episode. For those unaware, the last three women standing are typically invited by the Bachelor for a night of secluded relationship building in a dreamy resort. Each spends their individual time with the Bachelor while the other two women hang out in their corresponding rooms. But this year, each of the girls shared the same room because…why not? The Bachelor hasn’t  experienced any public budget cuts, so one can only assume the producers thought cramming the final three ladies in the same tight space would create some type of drama. And it did - emotions ran high in the final four episodes of the season, leading to a pretty unique season finale. While I feel it’s immoral to mess with peoples’ emotions for financial gain, I don’t believe it’s unethical in show business. In fact, I’d say it’s in the nature of reality TV.