Not Another Therapy Date On The Bachelor

Vulnerability and communication are obviously integral to a strong relationship, and therapy can be a really helpful tool to maintain those things. But that doesn’t mean The Bachelor needs to continually subject contestants to surprise therapy sessions.

The franchise is known for getting contestants to open up about their personal traumas on one-on-one dates, but increasingly, it’s featured actual therapy — or at least a feigned version of it. During both Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette and Clayton Echard’s season of The Bachelor, previous Bachelor/ettes hosted group “therapy” dates in which the contestants were prompted to share their innermost vulnerabilities.

Clayton’s season took it a step further and included a second therapy-themed date during the Feb. 21 episode — this time at least with a licensed professional. However, the women weren’t overly thrilled about being forced into couples therapy with Clayton. Going to therapy is a personal decision, and it’s not an experience most people would want to have in a public forum — like, say, on a reality TV show.

Genevieve in particularly really struggled with the date, as she hadn’t been to therapy before and expressed that she’d specifically avoided it because she doesn’t like talking about things in her past. Ultimately, her inability to open up led to Clayton sending her home — something fans took issue with. “clayton kicked somebody out because she wouldn’t open up emotionally on national tv, after being unknowingly forced into a predatory ‘therapy’ session. cool move dude,” tweeted one viewer.

Mostly, though, fans were just tired of seeing such an exploitative date over and over again. “at this point a group therapy date is the free space on every single bachelor bingo card,” tweeted a viewer.

As another fan astutely pointed out: can’t we just get some bowling dates or something?!