Why The Bachelorette has such ridiculous job titles

What do dog lover, free spirit, social media participant, and chicken enthusiast have in common? These are all “job titles” that have been used on The Bachelor / The Bachelorette in the past. These are the sorts of things that often lead to contestants being the subject of great ridicule. We’ve always felt sorry for them on some level, mostly because we hardly imagine these people (at least for the most part — some people really love fame) coming in and proclaiming that they want some sort of title on the screen all season that makes it look like they don’t have a real job and need to be labeled something clever.

So why does this happen? Sure, there is a certain entertainment value to it — but there is also a larger, more sensible reason for it. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the show’s producers explain that much of it is about differentiating contestants whose actual jobs are really quite boring:

The idea is for the viewer to quickly get a sense of who this person is by glancing at what we call the lower-third chyron. And oftentimes their occupation will do that — “dentist,” for example, or “weatherman.” However, so many traditional monikers have been replaced with terms like “consultant” and “sales director.” What do these even mean, really? So we decided a few years back to make an effort to not just be satisfied with “consultants” and “entrepreneurs.”

With that in mind, the producers now go with dominant character traits for people with rather boring jobs — take, for example, twins Haley and Emily Ferguson being labeled “twin.” That was what would be memorable about them right away. Sure, sometimes these do keep you from getting to know these contestants more in-depth, but when you think about it, how many of these people with ridiculous titles ever win? These are mostly used for contestants who aren’t around all that long and producers want them to make a big impression regardless. For your winners / hometown-date recipients, there is a little more time to flesh them out as people.

Related – Be sure to see the latest on Garrett and the Instagram controversy

What’s been your favorite ridiculous job title over the years? (Our personal favorites probably include “Hipster” and “Canadian.”) Be sure to share right now in the comments!

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