‘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.
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![Unreal bachelor producer](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-producer.png?fit=800%2C444&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
Chet basically is Mike Fleiss.
Or at least he was. According to Bachelor Nation author Amy Kaufman, she spilled in an interview, the early days of the Bachelor franchise were "sort of the wild, wild west. Not only were they figuring out how the show would work and figuring out if they should give out roses or necklaces, but they also were partying it up. They were living large, in a way." That meant that, like Chet, the real show's creator, Mike Fleiss, was allegedly always high and conducting an inappropriate relationship with producer Lisa Levenson.
2 of 20
![Unreal bachelor villain](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-villain.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
They cast certain contestants as the "villain."
In Season 1 of UnREAL, that was Britney. When she (unfortunately for the show) got sent home early, they had to try and pivot to find someone else to fit the villain role, because no reality TV show can ever be without one. Just watch a season of The Bachelor and you'll see what we mean. Contestants have quickly been pigeon holed into the villain role simply for being a little more out-spoken or cocky than other contestants. "If there's one thing that's really real about UnREAL, it's the fact that each person has a certain personality trait that the producers use to create a character," an anonymous contestant told Cosmopolitan. "That character is a simplified version of the person, and it's used so that they fit into a certain role for the final edit on TV."
3 of 20
![Unreal bachelor cash bonus](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-cash-bonus.png?fit=800%2C444&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
Those cash bonuses for big storylines are real.
Remember how Quinn paid out in Season 1 when Rachel delivered on that villain footage of Anna? Yeah, apparently that, too, is ripped straight from real life. A former Bachelor executive producer, Scott Jeffrees, told Amy Kaufman that he always "kept a wad of crisp $100 bills in his pocket" with which to reward producers who were capturing and cultivating especially good footage.
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![Unreal bachelor producer hookup](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-producer-hookup.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
There have been producer hookups.
Not only did Rachel hook up with the first season's suitor Adam on UnREAL, there was also plenty of action between booted contestants and the show's host — as well as a season two hookup between Tiffany and Chet. In real life, Michelle Kujawa hooked up with a crew member while filming Bachelor in Paradise, and Rozlyn Papa was sent home after getting too cozy to a producer on set.
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![Unreal bachelor crying producer](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-crying-producer.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
Contestants are manipulated into crying on camera.
When you're sent home early in the show, it can be hard to feel too broken up about not getting a chance with someone you barely know. And later in the season, sometimes you just don't like the bachelor or bachelorette enough to really care. But a reality show needs drama, and that means on-camera tears. In UnREAL, when Britney refuses to get vulnerable during an interview, Rachel tricks her into thinking she's not being filmed and manipulates her until they finally get the footage they need. IRL, Jessica Holcomb admitted Sarah Gertrude Shapiro did the same to her. "It was very shocking," she said about producers and the crew needling her until they got their shot. "She just kept going on and on. It was just the meanest stuff ever… At that point, none of us even knew [Jesse] or liked him or anything. And so I walk off and they film me walking off like it was this big dramatic thing. It was humiliating."
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![Unreal bachelor drunk pool hookup](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-drunk-pool-hookup.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
There was a drunken, questionably consensual pool hookup.
When producers pressure Maya to come out of her shell on UnREAL, she does so by drinking — but after she starts a pool party, things get out of hand. Roger, Adam's best friend visiting for an episode, starts making out with her in the pool when she's clearly a little too drunk — and later Rachel finds them in a private room and quietly escorts a crying Maya out. On Bachelor in Paradise, Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson had a similarly sloppy hookup which escalated to the point that the show was temporarily shut-down. An investigation found no one at fault and cleared any wrong-doing, but with Corinne too drunk to remember anything, it's clear the situation was messy.
7 of 20
![Unreal bachelor gay contestant](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-gay-contestant.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
Contestants came out because of the show.
While fighting for Adam's heart, Faith has the realization that she's not actually attracted to him — because she's attracted to her female best friend. Through the series, she realizes she's gay (and you can watch more on The Faith Diaries as she comes into her own). On The Bachelor Australia, nobody came out on air, but two of the female contestants did start dating after the show. [Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon have since split]((https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4815040/Megan-Marx-reveals-REAL-reason-Tiffany-Scanlon-split.html), but another Bachelor Australia contestant has also come out. After breaking up with her bachelor, winner Alex Nation found love with her fiancée, Maegan Luxa.
8 of 20
![Unreal bachelor medication misuse](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-medication-misuse.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
There have been problems with medication misuse on the set.
When Mary was coming across as too uptight on the first season of UnREAL, her Everlasting producer decided to "help her out" by replacing some of her meds with placebo pills. Instead, Mary spiraled and ended up dangerously unwell, eventually committing suicide. Things didn't take quite such a tragic turn on Bachelor in Paradise, but Corinne did blame her blackout and the ensuing scandal on an unfortunate combination of meds and alcohol. "I drank a little too much when I was on medication," she said. "I shouldn’t have been drinking that much and mixing different alcohols." Corinne seems to have taken full responsibility, but in an interview with Cosmo, that anonymous former contestant said meds all go through the on-set nurse and psychiatrist, but that there had never be any funny business like in the Lifetime show. Also similar to Mary's story on UnREAL, Bachelor Nation has also lost family members to suicide, with Bachelor winner Jesse Csincsak blaming the show for Alexa McAllister's death.
9 of 20
![Unreal bachelor spin off series](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-spin-off-series.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
There was a proposed spin-off series for the winning couple.
Though Grace didn't actually end up snagging the proposal from Adam on UnREAL, producers had the idea for another series focusing on the couple called Royal Love. Even besides The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Bachelor in Paradise, and The Bachelor Winter Games, there've been a couple Bachelor Nation spin-offs — most notably, one that followed a winning couple as they went through their lives. Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? didn't last long, but it did open the door for other shows about noteworthy couples and contestants, like The Twins: Happily Ever After?
10 of 20
![Unreal bachelor bring back villain](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-bring-back-villain.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
They let a contestant skip most of the competition.
Britney got the boot in episode one of Everlasting, but when it came down to the final two, Chet decided to switch things up by bringing the villain back. IRL, Nick Viall skipped the first few episodes when he asked bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe if he could join her season after coming second on Andi Dorfman's. Neither ended up winning, though, which just goes to show that you need every second you can get if you're hoping to actually fall in love.
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![Unreal bachelor first black suitor](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-first-black-suitor.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
They recently debuted the first black suitor.
And actually, UnREAL did it first, bringing in B.J. Britt to star as Darius Hill, the first black lead on Everlasting. ABC caught up about a year later, casting Rachel Lindsay as the first black lead on The Bachelorette or, to be clear, any Bachelor Nation show. Though the fictional show tackled more of the race issues head on, it also showed the producers clumsily trying to handle it, leading to some serious issues.
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![Unreal bachelor black racist](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-black-racist.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
They brought a racist contestant into the competition for the first black suitor.
UnREAL's Beth Ann was more easily spotted in her Confederate flag bikini, then tried to pivot when she realized that she was there to date someone who was not only black, but one of her favorite football players. In The Bachelorette, Lee Garrett was less obvious on the show (though he was obviously the villain of the season), but viewers found tweets online that caused clear racial tension. Many viewers questioned how the producers could not know, especially when he revealed he didn't apply to be on the show, but was scouted on social media.
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![Unreal bachelor casting](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-casting.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
They scouted particularly interesting or relevant contestants.
Yep, IRL, Lee was scouted for The Bachelorette, leading many fans to believe he was specifically cast to stir up trouble. On UnREAL, Rachel and the other producers took advantage of finding Beth Ann, but they also went out of their way to scout another contestant who they hoped would bring the drama. In season two, for the first black suitor, Rachel hunted down Ruby, a Black Lives Matter activist, and convinced her to be on the show. Eventually, all worked out for Ruby and Darius, but along the way, the producers found plenty of moments where they tried to force Ruby to clash with her fellow contestants.
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![Unreal bachelor promoting brand](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-promoting-brand.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
Contestants were there for the "wrong" reasons.
On UnREAL, that meant that Yael, aka "Hot Rachel," was there because she was secretly an undercover reporter hoping to score a scoop about Mary's death from the previous season. On The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, it usually means contestants hoping to up their Instagram game so they can make that ad money after the show. None were so upfront as Whaboom, aka Lucas Yancey, who was trying to drum up grassroots interest in "Whaboom," whatever that is. Not only did he say it incessantly, he also wore a shirt with "Whaboom" on it and promised to release a "Whaboom" song that he dropped last August. Seems like it didn't work so well, though, since the video only has about 1,500 views.
15 of 20
![Unreal bachelor proposal](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-proposal.png?fit=800%2C446&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
The pressure to propose is nearly unbearable.
In the Season 2 finale, the Everlasting producers put Darius on live TV, surprising him with the news that he wasn't just going to propose, eh was going to actually get married in front of everyone. Talk about upping the ante. The pressure was real for actual Bachelor contestants, too. Jesse Csincsak from DeAnna Pappas' season of The Bachelorette told Amy Kaufman, "I started throwing up… I was puking on the sidewalk walking down to get the ring and coming back." Chris Bukowski was also feeling the heat on Bachelor in Paradise. "You've got to do it," he said producer Elan Gale told him. "This is going to fix your image so much. America's going to fall in love with you guys." Sound familiar to Darius' storyline?
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![Unreal bachelor lauren arie finale](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-lauren-arie-finale.png?fit=800%2C446&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
A bachelor ditched his final pick for someone he already sent home.
At the end of Darius' season, he was meant to legit get married to his finalist. Instead, when Ruby showed up, he broke both final girls' hearts to propose to her instead. Bachelor Arie Luyendyk, Jr. did much of the same when he decided to dump his fiancée Becca Kufrin on camera so that he could pursue his runner-up, Lauren Burnham, instead. At least on UnREAL, it wasn't Darius' idea to break his contestants' hearts on camera — or air it all on live TV.
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![Unreal bachelor bachelorette](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-bachelorette.jpg?fit=800%2C438&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
They're bringing in their first female suitor.
Yep, after however many seasons of Everlasting, the show has decided to pivot to feature the first female suitor. We'll meet Serena, played by Caitlin FitzGerald in season three of UnREAL as a sort of hail-mary attempt to save the show. In Bachelor Nation, The Bachelorette first split off from The Bachelor back in 2003 with Trista Rehn (now Trista Sutter) as the lead.
18 of 20
![Unreal bachelor jockey whaboom](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-jockey-whaboom.jpg?fit=800%2C445&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
A contestant is only there for the entertainment value of being seriously out of place.
Technically, every contestant is there for the entertainment value. But sometimes, it's beyond clear that one of the men or women looking for love on the franchise is only there because a producer thought it would make for good TV. For Serena on Everlasting, that was the Kentucky Derby jockey, Norman, who Quinn wanted her to keep around for a few episodes at least. In The Bachelorette, Whaboom was one of the more obvious plants as he seemed to be there just to be outlandish — and rile up fellow competitor Blake E. — yet somehow stayed beyond the first night. Unfortunately for the producers in UnREAL, Serena wasn't quite as willing to play ball as Rachel Lindsay, and the jockey was sent packing.
19 of 20
![Unreal bachelor black mascara tear](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-black-mascara-tear.jpg?fit=800%2C445&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
It finally featured a single, black mascara tear.
On reality shows centered around finding love, you know there are going to be tears involved, which means waterproof makeup is a must. And yet, Serena didn't seem to get the memo for her first night of filming. Bekah M. also made Bachelor history this year when she pulled a total Lauren Conrad and shed maybe the first mascara tear in the show's history. The moment was so iconic that it got Twitter buzzing — and even Jimmy Kimmel joined in the fun when he had Bekah on his show.
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![Unreal bachelor product placement](https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unreal-bachelor-product-placement.jpg?fit=800%2C445&quality=86&strip=all)
Lifetime
The product placement is absolutely shameless.
There's been plenty of subtle product placement in the Bachelor shows over the years, but it seems like it's gotten even more blatant in recent years. And we're not even just talking about Ben Higgins and Amanda Stanton's McDonald's date, or the promotion of the resort the cast stays at during Bachelor in Paradise, or the no-name bands publicist probably pay big bucks to feature on the show (and we could keep going). Instead, the watches Serena handed out to her Everlasting suitors reminded us of just one thing — all those Neil Lane diamond rings would-be grooms shop for across the franchise. Honestly, we're surprised it took this long for UnREAL to follow that trend.
Watching with us? Check back in each week to see even more similarities between these two shows.