“A good amount of the population” resides in Bachelor Nation, to the tune of about 8 million viewers an episode . It’s why social progress on the show, from hiring a Black lead to giving survivors of sexual assault a platform , actually matters. For every one of us who was practically screaming “It’s about damn time!” when Bachelor in Paradise finally included a LGBTQ+ couple in its 2019 cast — the absolute least the show could do — there were just as many fans of the show who were shocked by that inclusion. For everyone who supported Hannah Brown or Kaitlyn Bristowe speaking up about sex on The Bachelorette , there is a faction of fans that shamed them publicly and brutally. It might be easier to dismiss any one of these shows as empty fluff, but to ignore that Bachelor Nation is genuinely a reflection of our actual nation — and its numerous perspectives and faults — is to lie to ourselves. Once you’ve accepted that reality TV is a window into America’s soul, you have a leg to stand on when you ask that the window get an occasional scrubbing.