Each week, The Nevada Sagebrush staff decides on a topic that is either overrated or underrated. Our opinion section then writes this column about the outcome. For suggestions for The Over/Under, tweet them to us @NevadaSagebrush.

The Bachelor’s digital promotion is featured on a billboard near Times Square on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. Colton Underwood is the newest bachelor and his season is arguably one of the worst seasons in Bachelor history.

The only time most American women find polygamy enticing is when they’re glued to their television screens while watching ABC’s “The Bachelor”.

We live in a society where cheating is frowned upon, and dating two people at once gets messy, but yet so many people tune in to watch a gorgeous singleton try to find their perfect match on the “Bachelor” franchise.

“The Bachelor” has aired since 2002 and has been drama filled reality tv from the start. Their success from season one of the Bachelor prompted them to make a spin-off, “The Bachelorette” in 2003.

No matter the season, no matter the star, “The Bachelor” has always had a plethora of drama. In recent years there has been more exciting drama such as; called off engagements, picking a winner and then dumping them for the runner up and even scandalous actions like having affairs with the production crew.

Even though there are redeeming qualities about the Bachelor franchise, overall the show is overrated. People get overly invested in this show when there are hundreds of better quality shows on television.

Viewers get invested in the lives of who they see on television but every season of “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette” is exactly like the seasons before it. There aren’t any new twists or turns, and essentially the seasons have the same premise, compete and fall in love. It’s the same mundane story every single season and doesn’t have any new content.

This show and it’s drama have become so predictable that people even participate in Bachelor/Bachelorette brackets to try and guess what will happen on the next episode. Prizes range from show merchandise, online credit and even real money. After so many seasons of watching this show, fans can get pretty good with their predictions, which begs the question – is this show staged?

There has been speculation that whoever is the Bachelor or Bachelorette doesn’t have full control over their decisions. In recent seasons fans have noticed that there is active manipulation occurring from ABC producers but ABC declines to comment. It’s not possible to have this much natural drama every single season.

This show isn’t a natural way for people to find love, and in most cases causes more toxicity than successful couples. Over 28 seasons of “The Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” have been filmed, but only five couples have gotten married afterward. Probably because weeding through 30 people at a time isn’t a natural way to find the love of your life.

But yet, the show still receives a lowly 2.2 rating in adults between the ages of 18-49 and has over 7.8 million viewers. People openly admit that this show is horrible, but they still tune in to watch the drama unfold.

Even though this show is a lot of people’s “guilty pleasure show,” there’s no denying that this entire franchise is a hot mess, and therefore completely overrated.

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or of its staff. Jacey Gonzalez studies journalism and can be reached at jaceygonzalez@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.