Let me tell you about an Australian TV program.

It’s The Bachelor Australia 2016, a program centering on a bachelor who is seeking a partner and a number of beautiful women who apply and are selected to compete with each other, the bachelor finally selecting one of them as his mate. The “2016” means the program is run each year featuring different people. Various editions of the show are also produced and aired in the UK and the USA.

A total of 25 women appeared in this year’s edition. None of the women knew or saw who would be appearing as The Bachelor in advance. The ages of the women varied from about 23 to around 30.

The bachelor in the title role of the 2016 edition was 30-year-old Richard, affectionately called Richie. He had actually appeared before in The Bachelorette 2015, a reverse version of the show where a bachelorette selects a man, and made it to the last three. Although in the end he missed out on being selected, he made a very good impression on viewers nationwide as a wholesome, good young man with a chiseled physique and an amiable, fresh personality.

The program wouldn’t attract much attention if the man were not at least the sort of guy to make a group of women vie for him, to make them smolder with jealousy, so he has to be a man with the good looks for the job. And the women are all very good looking, making the choice all the harder for him.

In the first episode, the women appeared one by one, stepping out of a limousine, to greet Richie and introduce themselves. The program aired twice a week over about two months. Over the episodes Richie discovered what sort of women the competitors were as he invited them on single dates and on group dates, where he dated a number of the women at the same time to play games. Towards the end of the series Richie presented red roses to a number of the women, one by one, in what is called the Rose Ceremony. The women who weren’t offered a rose left, until finally only one remained.

The women all live together during the filming of the program in a large house, like a villa. Apparently they are prohibited from making contact with the outside world or from posting on social media about themselves or the program. They do get a fee for appearing, so the longer Richie continues selecting them, the longer they get to appear and I have heard that some of the women try hard to do so, while some hope to launch their names in the media. And of course many of the women are doing their best because they are in love with him and they absolutely want to have him!! It is very interesting to watch the various goings on around this one man as the rivals live together under the one roof. This year also saw a first for the program when one of the women who didn’t receive a rose from Richie rejected him herself.

Week by week, one woman after the other leaves until the last three are chosen and The Bachelor goes to meet their families. Then in the final episode, before he chooses the one, the two remaining women meet his family. One of the two remaining women this year was Nikki, a country girl who lives in the same state as Richie. She is nevertheless a fashionable and beautiful woman with a good, honest personality, someone viewers thought was a great choice, a lovely woman and a convincing choice. Being a good person, the whole time the contestants spent together she never said a bad word about anyone. In the final episode she met Richie’s mother, who really took a liking to her.

The other woman, Alex, is a single mother with a cute 5-year old boy. She too is very stylish and beautiful, but a little different personality wise, and was not well liked by viewers. Her emotions were quite intense living in the villa, with tears, jealousy and depression, so viewers sensed that Alex was mad about him.

In the end, the lucky girl who captured Richie’s heart was Alex. But lots of viewers commented on social media after the final episode, saying things like “He made a big mistake choosing Alex!”, “He’s absolutely going to regret it!”, “He’s an idiot!”, “Nikki deserves a better man.” and “Make Nikki The Bachelorette next year!”.

Criticism came from all across Australia and Richie was instantly labeled “the most hated man in Australian TV at the moment”. But if the couple and their families are happy, then I think that’s fine, but it seems one thing countries across the world have in common is that they have people who are ready to meddle in and comment about other peoples’ lives.