Trista and Ryan Sutter

The Bachelorette:
I'm not much of a television watcher and so, consequently, even less of a reality show watcher. Recently, while surfing the Internet, I came across a photograph of a good-looking couple and their baby and the caption said they were Trista and Ryan Sutter with their brand-new baby, Maxwell Alston, on the way to/on the way from a supermarket. The accompanying article said Trista Sutter had a difficult pregnancy, getting diagnosed with the HELLP syndrome and having to give birth by C-section. Now both she and the baby were fine. Which was nice to know, but who the heck were these people?

The article explained that the man was Ryan Sutter, who had once studied architecture, done some modeling, and was now a firefighter in Vail, Colorado. The woman was Trista Rehn, who had a Master's Degree in Exercise Science, had danced with NBA's Miami Heat dancers, and was now a purse designer. They had apparently met, fell in love, and decided to marry on a reality show called 'The Bacholerette'. Now here they were, four years on, happily ever after and with a child, and in Los Angeles to record a new show about the happily ever after. I looked some more on the Internet and found a magazine article about how they had decorated an eco-friendly nursery for their kid. Somewhere else Trista was listed a 'Celebrity Mom'.

To discover what made her and him celebrities, I backtracked to their reality show. 'The Bachelorette' is a spin-off of another reality show called 'The Bachelor', the premise of both shows being to introduce unattached people to one another in the fond hope that they will find love and attachment and in the process, entertain T.V. audiences and enrich T.V. studios as well. In the Bachelor, a single guy can choose from several women and in the Bacholerette, a single girl can take her pick from several men. You apparently hand a rose to the people you're interested in and, if they are interested back, they will accept the rose. And so on you go until there's only one contender left for your rose.

There are different ways to look at this - cringe-inducing, for starters. I mean, the very idea of courting someone under public scrutiny. Think of the sheer pressure. Will he/she accept my rose? What if he/she doesn't accept my rose? Good Lord, what if he/she does accept my rose? Am I tied for life or just this episode? You know how it is. Making an ass of yourself in private is bad enough. On the other hand, it's kind of courageous too, you know. Not being afraid to make an ass of yourself in public, I mean. That requires a certain talent, doesn't come easily to all of us. And then again, you wonder is it all talent, or is there really any heartfelt emotion too there? Are the participants really looking for true love or a true new vocation on T.V.? Publicity has its perks after all, especially in these modern times, when you can wind up with a windfall in book deals, movie deals, photo deals, talk shows, and so on and so forth.

Ryan and Trista:
Anyway to come back to this Bachelorette couple, Ryan and Trista. They were part of the first season of the Bachelorette. Trista was a 'contender' on the Bachelor and then became 'the prize' on the Bachelorette. Ryan's name was suggested to the show-makers by a friend of his, and he decided to try it out just for the heck of it. So he went on the show and became the 'contender' here. He was attractive, charming, and romantic. Trista liked him. He liked Trista. So he asked her to marry him and she said, yes, she'd marry him. And then Oprah stepped into the picture and said she'd be glad to host their wedding - on her show. Ryan and Trista were thrilled and flattered, but decided to stay loyal and let ABC host their wedding. Millions of viewers watched the wedding telecast, and the couple garnered more fans than before.

They've been married about 4 years now, as mentioned before. So obviously it has worked out well for them. Which is nice for them. And I even understand the obsession, everyone loves a lover and a good fairy-tale ending. And I'm sure they are very nice people too and, from their websites, seem talented as well. But do I want to spend precious minutes of my life watching theirs? Nah, I don't think so. I think I'll go watch Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova in 'Once'.