A Sad Realization...

Sometimes I have the unfortunate realization at just how sad my life is at times. Most of the time I just live in blissful ignorance, ignoring the facts that I know about myself. And one of those facts is that I do like watching dating reality shows.

This hit me like a mac truck though last night when I ended up watching the re-run of Trista and Ryan's Wedding, the first Bachelorette to grace our television sets. The thing is, I watched this seminal television event the first time 5 years ago with a bunch of friends at college. I can clearly remember us all gathering together in our little living room on the worst couches in the world watching the blessed event with snacks and snide commentary. It was hilarious then and it was just as hilarious last night (if not more so) to watch it again last night.

But for some reason, in the midst of my laughter, I had the realization of just how many reality dating shows I have partaken in - The Bachelor (many seasons), The Bachelorette, Joe Millionaire, Average Joe. And I do have to admit that from time to time I will also willingly subject myself to an episode of the complete trash realm of reality dating shows - Elimidate, Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, MTV's Next. Then there are the random ones that I sometimes catch an episode or two of - Farmer Wants a Wife, Outback Jack.

It was then that I realized that I have spent more time WATCHING people on dating shows than actually GOING on dates. Is that sad? It seems like that should be a sad fact. And it could be that I should be more depressed about that than I am, but with so much else on my plate at this time, I don't think I have the capacity to be depressed about it right now.

So for now, I'm just going to laugh at my memories and good times of Trista and Ryan, Joe Millionaire (who could forget the closed caption incident??), Andrew Firestone, Bachelor Bobert (ick), Adam from Average Joe, and my new fav, DeAnna and her posse of men chasing after her (and ps, cannot believe that she intentionally staged falling off the bucking cow to see who would come help her first, AND that she eliminated my science nerd teacher, AND that mullet karate kid is still around, AND that she bought a star for the single dad's kid - so ridiculous, but oh so awesome!!).

"DeAnna, Gentlemen...the Final Rose"

For those who know me, they know that I have a love for "reality" television, with some of my all-time favorites being The Amazing Race, Project Runway, ANTM marathons, and The Hills. But occasionally, I dabble in and out of Survivor and The Bachelor/Bachelorette series, as they can be so-so from season to season. In fact, I can't really call myself a diehard Bachelor fan like some of my friends, as I pop in and out of dedicating myself to watching a season, depending on the quality of the editing and lascivious of the "contestants" (Bachelor Bob anyone? ew).

But Holy Cow.

The new season premiere of latest Bachelorette caught me completely off guard and has happily sucked me into a brand-new season of awesome Rose ceremonies and Fantasy Dates. It has been a while since I have seen such a cast of awesome reality TV characters. The Bachelorette girl, DeAnna, is a hoot - apparently she's a Greek American with a Southern accent, who's really into her family, and wears dresses that need to be altered in order to hang correctly.

The guys are where it's at though - from the science nerd guy who got a "First Impression" Rose (which actually was something new to me, which shows how un-dedicated I can be to this show), to the sweet oyster farmer who gave her a single pearl necklace, to the guy who jumped in the pool and then stripped his wet clothes off to reveal a speedo with DeAnna's name on his butt, to Sean "Rex Kwan Do" who roundhouse-kicked a lemon off of the snowboarder guy's head, to the guy who got rejected and then promptly ripped his shirt off of himself and started howling at the moon! I am not making this up!! I have never seen such a cast of characters. And from the season-clip show promo at the end, the editors at the Bachelorette headquarters have successfully captured a viewer for the entire season. It looks amazingly awesome.

And so, I encourage all those out there who have not partaken yet in this wonder, to tune in on Monday nights to see this awesomeness. I'm hoping against hope that the wonders of the season premiere continue into the rest of the season!!

*Sadly the video that I posted has seemed to stop working - sorry to those that didn't get to see the brilliance of it - but stay tuned to the Bachelorette - each week is filled with amazing clips!*