It is that time of year when I’ll write a Bachelor article. For those who don’t know, I am a Bachelor-franchise fanatic. I lose friends on a weekly basis for live tweeting The Bachelor (please drop a follow @lizziekarpen).
Throughout Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette, I wanted Peter Weber to win over the oh-so-beautiful Tyler C. and smarmy, dog-food jingle singing Jed. And after four-time windmill sex (that his mother was a bit too proud of, in my opinion) Peter was sent back home with a broken heart.
But our favorite Delta pilot was given a second shot at love when he became the Bachelor of 2020 … and he has completely screwed it up.
But most viewers were not as much on Team Peter as I had been. So when he was revealed to be the next Bachelor, many were disappointed, claiming that he was too boring and passive and his season would be a complete and utter shitshow. Which has completely been the case.
During Colton’s 2019 season, he uncomfortably mentioned his virginity literally every five minutes, and yet somehow Peter is the Bachelor who is much more uncomfortable to watch.
Extremely early on in the season, Peter lost control of his season, and because of that his season went to shit. He let himself be manipulated time and time again (a la Luke P. to Hannah). He weakly sent Alayah home due to the poor opinions of the other women in the house … only to feel bad and bring her back. He then claimed that he never wanted to send her away to begin which is ???? And then worst of all, he gave Alayah a rose even though she wasn’t on the date. Then, Peter truly proved his spinelessness when he sent Alayah home again after the women confronted him about how his decisions were hurtful to them.
Peter’s season is almost over, and yet, it feels like nothing happened. He’s had countless one-on-ones with plenty of amazing girls and we’re down to the wire in terms of women, yet I don’t think I know anything about any of them. Peter has yet to fight back or argue when he disagrees and is just meandering.
And it’s not like Pilot Pete hasn’t been told that he is making all the wrong choices. When Kelley was sent home, she simply told him “It sucks that it didn’t work out,” following it with, “Figure out what you need to figure out.”
The show’s tagline this season was “expect turbulence,” but with Pilot Pete at the helm, it’s been closer to expect incompetence.
Peter’s issue boils down to an inability to make decisions, stemming from the first moment Hannah Brown stepped out of the limo and he was unable to choose whether he wanted her there. At that moment he was conflicted: should he move on or go back to the woman who broke his heart? This uncertainty has followed him throughout the season for the worse.
But in all truth, I’m still rooting for Peter and Hannah Brown — I really am. They obviously still have feelings for one another and I really can’t watch Hannah get dumped on television once again after Colton, Jed and Tyler. At this point, I’m getting secondhand shame for the girl.
I cannot even complain about Peter’s conduct, though. He has been a bad and passive Bachelor, but there have easily been much worse. Let’s take a look:
Look at Jesse Palmer who became infamous for saying the wrong contestant’s name during a rose ceremony. Good times. And Jake Pavelka made every wrong decision and proposed to Vienna Giardi; that relationship imploded within mere weeks, leaving fans wondering how he couldn’t see her villainous ways from the beginning. The pair continued on by shading one another on any platform they could so much so that they were brought back for a television special to air their grievances. Their relationship became so hostile, Vienna issued a statement before it even aired.
Ben Flajnik made bad decisions, as well. He knew Courtney Robertson was not the woman he was supposed to marry, but his attraction for her made him make the wrong choice. AKA hormones don’t make good decisions. Then there is Jason Mesnick and Arie Luyendyk Jr., who both decided to later dump the women they chose on national television.
Then, the King of Bad Bachelors, Juan Pablo Galavis. After having a disastrous fantasy suite date with Andi Dorfman (where he spoke profusely about his sexual experiences with the other women), he chose Nikki Ferrell. This blew up in his face after he refused to say he loved her during “After the Final Rose”. Obviously, they did not last much longer.
After a long tradition of terrible Bachelors, Peter’s season has shown that perhaps who the Bachelor is does not matter at all. The Bachelor-franchise mess will still continue no matter who gives out roses. Peter undoubtedly has been a terrible Bachelor, but the cards he was dealt were not great to begin with. Between champagne-gate to Victoria F’s string of dramatic episodes, the women of the house have not made his life easy.
On the Viall Files, former Bachelor Nick Viall’s podcast, Peter said, “I’m making decisions in the moment, based off the information I have. I’m not making dumb decisions on purpose. I know everyone thinks I am and everyone thinks I’m being indecisive. And yeah, there was a lot of indecision, but that’s what you get when you date so many women at once.”
That quote is all you need to describe Peter’s season. It has been completely derailed by his inability to make decisions. He has become our passive Bachelor, and in the end it will cost him a potential engagement of his dreams. Peter most likely will not leave this season engaged. In fact, I can almost guarantee it. It’s unfortunate but was solely because of his own poor actions and no one else’s.