By Samantha Minnehan
As the drama unfolds on this season’s The Bachelor, there has become a rise in betting on the show using a website called Bach Bracket which allows watchers to be interactive with the show and place bets each week on which contestants they believe will receive a rose.
Many girls nowadays are diehards for the popular reality show The Bachelor. The premise of the show is that one man, the bachelor, gets to date 30 contestants at the same time through either one-on-one dates or group dates, and each week after the dates a rose ceremony is held to determine which contestants will move on and which are being sent home. As the season concludes and it is narrowed down to one contestant, it is common for the show to conclude with a marriage proposal on the season finale.
A more recent trend is for girls to have watch parties on “Bachelor Mondays” where they can all enjoy watching the cat fights go down together in real time. When asked what goes down on her “Bachelor Mondays” senior anthropology major at University of South Florida Katie McGinley said, “We usually drink wine and make dinner and laugh a lot.”
Although the show may be drama filled and very staged by the producers, girls still see it as a great opportunity to get together and spend quality time with friends.
The website Bach Bracket takes getting involved with the show to another level by allowing you to join a league or make a league with friends where you can cast predictions on which contestants you believe will receive a rose in the upcoming ceremony. The website allows you to look at the profiles of all contestants and is updated every week to ensure you only choose from remaining contestants.
Picks have to be set weekly before the show airs on Mondays at 8 p.m.. Winning is determined by how many points you have at the end of the season, but each week after the episode has aired you can see where you stand in your league with point rankings.
As far as betting goes, you do not necessarily have to put money on your predictions to participate. It is up to each individual league to determine whether money will be collected to participate. In my personal league, named “Rosé,” we designated my close friend Ashleigh to collect 5 dollars from each member using Venmo. We determined that instead of just collecting the money from the winnings, we would use the money to put together a gift basket for the winner.
My friend Ashleigh goes to school at Monroe Community College in my hometown of Rochester, New York. Betting on The Bachelor each week has been a great way for us to stay close, because it allows us to be a part of something together even though we are in different states for school.
Not only is Bach Bracket a good way to have something to look forward to with friends, it is also a great way to get more involved with the show and feel like you’re a part of it.
“[Bach Bracket] keeps you on the edge of your seat hoping you get all your picks correct and also places you in the shoes of the Bachelor himself,” said sophomore nursing major Ashleigh Laske.
Overall, I’ve had a lot of fun using this website, and I loved feeling more involved with the show. It has helped me stay close to friends back home and has given me something to look forward to each week as the semester rolls forward, and I look for easy and fun ways to enjoy the limited free time I have. I am looking forward to seeing where I place in my league and to see who Bachelor Peter ends up with the season… all bets are off.
Samantha Minnehan can be reached at samantha.minnehan@spartans.ut.edu
