"Bachelor" B.S. Tracker: contestants with fake job titles
Watching any season of "The Bachelor" requires some suspension of disbelief. First, you have to believe most women are "there for the right reasons." In other words: for love, not money. Then there's the endless parade of prom dresses, the helicopter rides, the skyscraper rappelling. This season, we're also asked to believe the bachelor in question, Brad Womack, has been encouraged by a licensed mental health professional to give love another chance on national television. Sure. And that he's a successful business owner. What? He owns a bar called the Chuggin' Monkey, but okay, fine. And finally, that there's three limo-loads of women with thriving careers in various and non-specific fields of business - which they're willing to give up on behalf of a complete stranger. Record scratch. B.S. meter overheating.
Certainly beautiful, camera-ready women can hold high-powered jobs, but can so many also just walk away from them? And why do all their job titles sound like resume padding? Sales associate? Marketing specialist?
In order to find out what exactly they do, I did a little background search on the new contestants from last night's season premiere. There was at least one surprise: the resident "Fashion Marketer " was actually deeply undersold. She was most recently a top exec for Dolce and Gabbana. But not everyone proved as true to their titles.
The Executive Assistant is really a Professional Kid: On this show, the term "executive assistant" is usually a front for temping and odd jobs. Chantal (last night's not very good cheek slapper) seems to have similar duties. An article from her home state of Washington pegs her as a "personal assistant"...for her dad, a car dealership owner. In other words, she gets allowance.
The Marketing Coordinator is really a Pro Cheerleader: Sometimes, contestants are allowed to disclose their pro-cheering background. But with so many through in the history of the series, production scouting methods are becoming too obvious. Luckily Kimberly does hold the title "marketing coordinator" for some kind of local company according to LinkedIn.com. But just last year, she was better know as one of the Carolina Topcats.
The Bartender is really a Bikini Model: You would think "bartender" would be re-worded to sound more hard-nosed (think "sales associate"), but since Brad's a bar owner, Stacy Q's short-term gig pouring shots is laid bare. Unfortunately, it's covering up her main source of income: modeling in barely any clothing. Not exactly family friendly fare.
The Model is really an Actress (and probably not a vampire): You'll sooner see the job title "Mafia henchman" before "actress" on the series. Actress sends red flags to the audience that the show is actually entertainment, not a professional matchmaking service. Despite the fact that 95 percent of the contestants on every season have at one time pursued on-camera careers, producers don't want to distill the intentions of the contestants. But what do you do when you have a contestant who's only other job is bikini modeling? Give her some fangs. Madison's profession was dwarfed by the fact that she's a vampire (or has been ever since higher-ups wanted "Twilight" worked in for ratings). Had her job title read "working actress" (she's appeared in several major TV shows and films) the whole blood-sucking thing would be a harder sell.
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