Betting On Love: Inside Competitive 'Bachelor' Fantasy Leagues
Kaitlyn Williams begins her exhaustive process about one month before the premiere. “We look through ABC’s contestant bios, which aren’t very informative, and then go further by kind of stalking the contestants a bit, diving deep into their social media accounts and anything else online.”
She lists the various accounts (Instagram, Twitter and more) she researches and then pauses, taking a breath. “Then we watch the trailers, over and over, to pull out details that may give us a hint as to who will go far.”
Williams is describing her investigative method for taking part in the latest phenomenon to hit Bachelor Nation: Bachelor fantasy leagues. Each week while contestants on the cultural touchstone face off to find love, the competition heats up at home, as over 500,000 viewers hope not to win a rose, but cash, prizes or bragging rights.
With the show in its 21st season (The Bachelorette just completed its 12th) and pulling in the highest ratings in years (the most recent premiere garnered 6.56 million viewers), uber-fans, as well as more surprising demographics (millennial men, for example), have begun competing in bracket-style or point-based challenges to bet on who will win a rose, leave still-single and, ultimately, go home with a ring.
Even for a non-viewer, the appeal is tantalizing. After all, The Bachelor is a game show, and aren’t games more fun when you’re the one playing? The leagues allow the best of both worlds: participation without heartbreak (or humiliation on national television).
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