Already have an account?
Get back to the

‘UnREAL’ May Be Fake, but the Storylines Are Scary Similar to ‘The Bachelor’


We knew we were in for a ride when UnREAL, the scripted show created by a former producer from The Bachelor, first hit our screens back in 2015. The show promised to give viewers a peek behind the scenes of a fictional show called Everlasting that was clearly little more than a stand-in for the ABC reality competition. Not only that, it hinted that this was how The Bachelor really worked, all backed up by Sarah Gertrude Shapiro’s real experiences, which she detailed in a profile with The New Yorker. The series is, of course, “one hundred percent fiction,” but it also has “the truth of what it was like on The Bachelor is baked in.”

Former Bachelor contestant Olivia Caridi called the show “scary accurate”, explaining, “Obviously there’s a little hyperbole involved in UnREAL. [But] there’s a reason Chris Harrison and The Bachelor are bothered by it… It was freaky seeing the comparisons and being like, ‘That’s what happens.'” Bachelor expert and The Los Angeles Times reporter Amy Kaufman also shed light on the show’s secrets in her new book, Bachelor Nation. In her exposé, she talked to former cast and crew and reveal that, in addition to all the similar Everlasting and Bachelor storylines, there’s also a lot identical drama playing out behind the scenes. We’ve noticed the similarities, too. In fact, sometimes the Lifetime show even gets a story first, proving life really does imitate art. Want to know what we mean? Check out the gallery below to see all the UnREAL plot points scarily similar to stories from The Bachelor.