Bachelor Franchise - Random Sleuthing - Discussion

Core couples: I think Arie and Lauren will get married. They're the only core couple with actual wedding plans and we're only 2 1/2 months away from their wedding. Something major would have to happen for them to call it off. I could go either way on Becca and Garrett. Too soon for me to make a prediction. The other couples I think will break up eventually.

Spin-off couples: I think Ashley I and Jared will get married for mostly the same reasons as Arie and Lauren. I lean towards Krystal and Chris not getting married but I also wouldn't be surprised if they do. I don't see the other couples getting married.

I'm not going to speculate on divorces because anything can happen down the road and the couples who are solid now may not be solid in the future.

All JMO.

I also think next breakup will be Rachel & Bryan. The next marriage will be Arie & Lauren because there’s no way they will let the naysayers (including me) be right. I do think they'd be smarter to wait but that’s their business. I don’t see it lasting either way. 

Jojo and Jordan are tough. I think it’s a bad sign to wait too long with no wedding plans so will see what the next few months bring. I hope they make it.   Becca & Garrett seem very happy but it’s too soon to tell for me.

I was reluctant to chime in on this but wth it's been a rough 24 hours.

Arie and Airhead will get married and he'll knock her up before 2019 is over, most likely by summer.

Becca and Garrett will marry, I think. Not 100% on that but I'm leaning more likely than not.


First to break up will be Rachel and Bryan.
Followed by all of the Also-rans from BIP with the possible exception of Ashley I and what's-his-name who like the attention too much.
Then lastly, the Jx3's who will break up after the next Bachelorette gets engaged.

Thats my guess.

@lipsis sounds all likely from my POV, too.
Even though I’ve been married a long time, and fairly happy with such most days, I don’t think the end goal in life should be marriage.
It works for some and that’s great. Being single works for some and that’s great, too, IMO.
What’s not so great is being in a sucky marriage, or marrying because you don’t feel there are better options.

^^ Right on, Kasha!!

OT - As for the end goal in life being marriage, that was very obvious in my generation. If you were not married by age 25, people assumed you were a "lost cause."

Couples did not live together before marriage and that is so different today. Each of my sons lived with their girlfriends (now wives) for three years before they got married. Got a lot of the problems ironed out that way!!

JMHO.

Newto wrote:^^ Right on, Kasha!!

OT -   As for the end goal in life being marriage, that was very obvious in my generation.  If you were not married by age 25, people assumed you were a "lost cause."

Couples did not live together before marriage and that is so different today.  Each of my sons lived with their girlfriends (now wives) for three years before they got married.  Got a lot of the problems ironed out that way!!  

JMHO.

That’s an excellent point, @Newto. In the weird world of BN, fans forget these people just met when we met them. Living together for three years before marriage is not long if you’re working TOGETHER. IMO, JoJo and Jordan are on track and so are Rachel and Bryan. A race to the altar proves nothing, IMO. 

If you’re confident in your love and plans and building your life together, it makes sense to take your time and make sure the business end of your lives are optimized while the spotlight is working in your favor. I think Jojo and Rachel are both doing that. Their guys seem to love them and time is not the enemy when feelings are real. Only when you have something to prove to others. IMO In the overall plan of both couples, the wedding is not top priority for expenditures and that makes sense to me. Rachel and Bryan have been together less than 18 months! Both couples are planning for a lifetime. Get ALL the ducks in a row. Not just the wedding. If one of the four of them decides to leave, so be it but, I see no indication of that, yet. Fans can wait. Opportunity does not. 

Becca and Garrett have a lot of work to do, IMO. Mea culpa or not, I don’t think their world views are in sync unless we/she never really knew who she really is, which is entirely possible. She spent her whole season making Arie comparisons. I think she has too much to prove. 

Kendall is a scary flake based on what we saw of her instant opinions of Leo. I don’t feel good about her with Joe. 

All JMO.

I don't have much of an opinion one way or another. Every couple is unique. I do think that those with some concrete wedding plans have the best chance to make it to the altar. It can be very easy to say "well, we're engaged, so we are already committed and things are good right now" rather than moving forward in their relationship. Personally, if I were Kaitlyn and had been engaged and living together for 3 1/2 years with no real wedding planning being done, I would have taken it as a big sign that it wasn't going to happen.

I am now of the opinion that an engagement at the end should not be the main objective of the show. I don't think that a lot of the contestants (particularly males from what it seems) are ready for that kind of commitment. In this world, engagement actually means dating. They also have barely spent time with each other and that has only been in "The Bachelor Bubble" and not real life.

These relationships typically start out long-distance, so usually one of them needs to move soon in order to give their relationship a fair chance of building and growing into the commitment they have already taken on. That has to be a lot of pressure for someone to move their life and move in with someone that they haven't been in a relationship with very long. I am honestly surprised that some of these relationships have lasted as long as they have. It will be interesting to see what the next 6 months to a year bring. All JMO.

I do think a big reason a lot of these recent relationships last so long is because there is so much pressure (both self-imposed and from the public). They want so badly to prove everyone wrong and not be like the rest of the failed couples that they work much, much harder to make it work than they would if they had just met at a bar. Sometimes that can be a good thing (Sean/Cat during DWTS), but I think it's often a bad thing, because sometimes a relationship is not meant to be. It was interesting hearing Jojo/Jordan talk about how terrible their first year was; most couples IRL would call it quits if the first year (the honeymoon period!) was hard, but they kept trying. And I'm sure that's true for a lot of these couples. It's probably partly why Rachel went from "wedding in winter of 2018 and a baby in 2019!" to "um...I'm just supes busy right now and don't have time to plan a wedding." I think this social media/podcast era just provides so much more access and interaction with these people and they do feel this pressure and fear of backlash and disappointment, that comes with a breakup, that wasn't there 5-10 years ago and that's why we never see any Deanna/Jesse or Emily/Jef length of relationships anymore. Even though, for all we know, things might be just as bad.


IMO.

I have been following the discussion here the last couple of days and this morning this article was on my news feed. It aligns with much of the discussion here.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/relationships/youll-be-shocked-at-how-long-the-average-couple-waits-before-getting-married/ar-BBPjwcx?ocid=spartandhp

I do think Kaitlyn and Shawn ending things could have an influence on the other bettes if they are not in rock solid relationships. It's been made a big deal that the last 4 girls are all still with their men and woman just know how to pick better. That's a lot of pressure to stay in the relationship if they don't foresee it as a forever thing.

Sprite wrote:I have been following the discussion here the last couple of days and this morning this article was on my news feed. It aligns with much of the discussion here.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/relationships/youll-be-shocked-at-how-long-the-average-couple-waits-before-getting-married/ar-BBPjwcx?ocid=spartandhp

I’m wondering if waiting 5 years from dating to marriage correlates with Millenials being the children of parents that hit the 50% divorce rate statistic.
Realistically, I don’t think there is ever a sure thing relationship regardless of if you wait 5 years or 1 year. IMO it’s more about having an emotional bond (conversational depth, understanding yourself & your partner, shared way of looking at life) that sustains plus physical attraction to go beyond friend zone. However long that takes to know IMO is all the time a couple needs.
Relating that to the show, I think level of self awareness (what you need, what your partner is capable of, and what you bring to your partner) is a factor. Arie and Lauren, for example, seem to be on the same page so there is no need to keep reading pages in the same chapter - they can skip to the next.
Also, until each makes the other their key confidant, I don’t think they are generally a strong unit. It is the us factor when theirs’ is the opinion most sought as guidance; the sign of a team.

I agree the divorce rate of the former generation is definitely a factor in waiting to be sure. Also, the acceptance of singles due to the diminishing of the stigma of not being married in your twenties. Add higher education resulting in the postponement of motherhood which is also driven by the cost of babies, especially if daycare is a factor. If you’re waiting to be able to afford a home and children, there’s less of a need to formalize a good relationship with marriage right away. JMO