Monk -ey Business
After the past few days of seeing article after article filter through my news feed about this season of the Bachelorette featuring Sophie Monk (and a bunch of hunks), I started to notice a few strange things with regard to the attitude of some of the so called ‘fans’ of this show, and that got me thinking.
Now, I don’t usually watch this show as a rule, but I have always thought Sophie is great value to watch, so along with a record number of viewers this season, I too tuned in. Purely because it was Sophie.
I don’t know Sophie personally, I did however meet her once very briefly at a birthday party. She barely had any makeup on and hovered close to the corner with just one friend. The organisers were inviting people to come up and sing on the podium, but there was no way she was bringing attention to herself at someone else’s birthday, she politely declined, and she was very low key about it. And its true, I didn’t see one guy go up to her!
Paris Hilton was there also . She jumped up and wanted to be the focus of the whole room, singing at the top of her voice some star song she was releasing . Sophie appeared completely happy to let her do that, she politely watched on and kept to herself like many professional entertainers do. They turn it on for work but prefer to kick back in a social setting. ( Not countin Paris ) .
I have always loved that Sophie is able to take the piss out of herself. She doesn’t claim to be Einstein, and she takes the blonde jokes in her stride, this woman though is no idiot, and she very clearly has a big heart. If you listen to her carefully, she rarely bad mouths anyone ever, she loves a joke as much as the next person but the joke is rarely at the expense of someone else’s feelings. She will even chime in if someone is getting teased and say no dont . The girl clearly has a conscience.
So, she goes on to this show legitimately looking for something real. Looking for love. Sure, that notion itself is always going to be slightly challenging, looking for something real in a World that is traditionally well, smoke and mirrors. However, she is a veteran at navigating the World of entertainment and remaining grounded along the way. Why cant we see her try her luck at love and and enjoy her entertaining personality the same time.
We all go into the commitment of watching the series knowing that the show is heavily scripted and edited. We all start off at the first episode knowing full well the last episode is going to have us on the edge of our seat wondering which way the bachelorette is going to go, who will she choose, how agonising the decision is, and how she is torn between two gorgeous men that tick all the boxes, but only one has her heart. We know this !
It is supposed to be entertaining seeing the journey of something real develop in such a structured environment. We know all of this.
And yet the hate and judgement that brews along the way starts to get personal for the viewers, like a volcano that is bubbling beneath the surface as they watch it all unfold.
Some viewers commitment to the show and the outcome of it, gets beyond a casual investment, it borders on weird, it’s as if it’s their own family member that is choosing someone to join their family.
We see the hot contenders for Sophie’s heart being picked to pieces along the way by this same audience. Maybe these guys have appeared on the show looking for love, maybe they are trying to raise their profile, does it matter ? either one of those motives could hardly be described as evil, this shouldn’t be the reason for viewers to spew so much negativity on them surely ?
This volcano finally erupts in epic proportion just after the finale, and comes in the form of hatefull and heavy judgment. An onslaught of online vitriol toward the Bachelorette and her chosen beau from some now giant sized really really invested followers.
Everything from why she is an airhead for choosing the wrong guy,( and thus deserves any unhappiness that ever follows her) , to attacking the guy she chose, and all things about him that people deem the reason for him being the complete wrong choice .
Then on cue the violins come out for the second-place getter, inadvertently making Sophie now the bitch – the one that broke his heart like the calculating manipulator she suddenly is.
This is the same second-place getter mind you, that only a week prior to this people were calling a stage 5 clinger, a psycho, and everything in between.
At what point does it go from light entertainment, to an invitation to attend a public stoning not only online, on every social media platform, but in the post finale press run where Sophie and her new partner attend interviews.
Well she gets paid you say.
Yes she did, and she also did things like wore revealing dresses when it was freezing cold, having to warm up with a hot water bottle in between takes, why? Because the format of the show called for it, it calls for a sexy minx, in an even sexier dress. I didn’t hear about any man having to wear very little and clinging on to a hot water bottle for warmth with their teeth chattering, no, they had jackets. But she played by the rules. She got bums on seats which is big business, and so, she should be paid.
She carried on the series right until the very end, even though the chances are in her heart, she possibly knew who was going to be the one quite a while prior. What is she actually supposed to do in that predicament, end an entire season of a show because she has found the one? No, the format of the show doesn’t allow for that. She’s contracted, therefor plays by the rules again, follows the format of the show. And so again, she should be paid.
Then the aftermath that inspired me to write this blog.
What surely is not part of the format is the harsh line of questioning both Sophie and Stu have been facing after the show ended. We saw them both appear on the Project and yes it has been described as cringe worthy and awkward. Which is weird given its the same network the show is on . Is that how talent is treated after they have deilvered the goods ?
A full day of Sophie being questioned over why she chose ‘the millionaire’ clearly left her spent. The constant innuendo that she was some sort of gold digger which is not only insulting to her, but to Stu, as if there is nothing more to him as a person than his money. What is that about? Did tall poppy syndrome just grow taller again in Australia?
This is the bubbly gorgeous girl that usually jokes her way through everything, and its as if the negativity from all the criticism post this show finale has sucked out what makes her magnificent for a moment.
It not funny anymore, when someone that makes so many people laugh is sitting there in an interview that by rights should be light-hearted and happy having to defend herself saying but I like to think I make as much money as him! Darling said very few women in this country anyway, who cares if you didnt, you would be no different to most. Then defending her decisions to follow her heart.
We started watching the dam show because she is real, because she is entertaining, because most of us like to actually believe in happily ever after. She says she has found it. She has never been known as a liar before, so isn’t it time now to accept the show is over, it was a great series, there are many people who gained a lot from the whole experience including us the audience.
I say its now time to wish both Sophie and Stu all the happiness that life could possibly offer them. They say they are happy, isn’t that the best finish to the show that anyone could hope for? Two happy people that despite past heartbreak, still believe and are striving for happily ever after?
Maybe it is those people that are judging them that most need to ask themselves if they themselves have found happiness.
Happy people don’t go around trying to make others miserable.
Journo’s can get so much bang for their buck with good talent , there is no need to hammer rude questions or use veiled insults to be watched.
And fans of the show dont need to troll because the story didnt end how they thought it ought to.
If the show has bothered you that much as a viewer that you start being nasty online. Its time to sit in front of the mirror for a very long time, not the TV, and really focus on looking at no one else but yourself until the feeling subsides.
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