The Bachelor Season 22 is already several weeks in, and the competition is fierce. As I sat down to watch these young hopefuls attempt to find love with Arie Luyendyk, I began to question the validity of the show. How many couples actually make it in real life after the show ends? As a girl who only entered the franchise with Ben Higgins from season 20 of the show, I realized I had a lot to learn. So, I opened up a new page on chrome and dove into the Bachelor world.
According to Brit+Co, only eight couples from the 21 seasons of The Bachelor and 13 seasons of The Bachelorette are still together. The first couple from Season 1 of The Bachelor did not last, nor did the couple from Season 2. However, the first success story was The Bachelorette couple from Season 1: Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter.
After the first successful relationship of the franchise, another one did not come to pass until Season 13 of The Bachelor; however, the circumstance surrounding the relationship was not the usual ending. Bachelor Jason Mesnick proposed at the final rose ceremony to Melissa Rycroft during the finale episode, but during the After the Final Rose special, he broke it off and declared his love for runner-up Molly Malaney, who he has been with ever since.
Season 15 of The Bachelor was also an interesting one, where second-time bachelor Brad Womack from Season 11 once again lost his chance at love. On his first season, he rejected both final women and has since split from Season 15 winner Emily Maynard.
The Bachelorette Season 7 had the next lasting relationship in the franchise featuring couple Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum, followed by Season 17 of The Bachelor with Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici and Season 9 of The Bachelorette with Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried. Interestingly, after Season 10 of The Bachelorette, the next three seasons produced three wonderful couples: Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth, JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers and the most recent pairing of Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo.
However, since Season 17, all the couples that became engaged on The Bachelor have since gone their separate ways. When I did the math, approximately 46 percent of the couples from The Bachelorette have successfully found love and only about 9.5 percent of the couples from The Bachelor (including Season 13 when Jason Mesnick changed his mind after the finale). Though I am not a numbers girl, these are clearly not great odds for Arie Luyendyk.
After seeing these scary numbers, I took a look at couples from the spin-off series’ Bachelor in Paradise and Bachelor Pad. According to People, one of two couples from the two seasons of Bachelor Pad made it past the finale: Holly Durst and Blake Julian. Two of six couples remaining after the finale from seasons 1-3 of Bachelor in Paradise have lasted: Jade Roper, Tanner Tolbert and Evan Bass and Carly Waddell.
According to Wetpaint, after the scandalous Season 4 of Bachelor in Paradise in which not one couple had a proposal during the finale; Derek Peth proposed to Taylor Nolan during the after-show special. Raven Gates and Adam Gottschalk are also reportedly still together.
Of all four shows from the Bachelor franchise, only 13 couples that were created on the TV show have stayed together. It makes me wonder if finding love on reality TV actually works. The only conclusion I have come to is that each person and couple has to work for it. If he or she wants to truly find love, I believe they can. The hard work comes after the cameras are off and the couple is no longer in the spotlight. If any couple from the Bachelor franchise wants to make it, they need to see past the fame and focus on the love they create during their time together.
Although statistically speaking the numbers are not great, I have faith that Arie Luyendyk can find his future wife on the show if he puts his heart out there.
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