The Bachelorette: too cruel for TV?

Did anyone else watch last night's episode of the Bachelorette with a hand partially over their eyes? For those who missed it, there's a guy on the show named Bentley who gets off on humiliating women. And despite the villainous music that swells when he's on screen, he succeeds at getting his jollies on a grand scale. 

Bentley is the embodiment of many women's worst fear. He's the guy who tells you how much he likes you, and then tells his friends how dumb you are to fall for his lines. Only in this case, his "friends" equal millions of viewers.

As many a mom has said, it's only funny until someone gets hurt. And last night, as Ashley pathetically wrapped her legs around a guy who just called her nothing special, someone got hurt. Like find a therapist who makes house-calls hurt. According to host Chris Harrison, they almost stopped production on the show because she was such a puddle of emotions. But, of course, they didn't. 

It's hard to feel too bad for a woman who's likely earning a six figure salary for being on a reality show, but last night got ugly. Producers allowed a guy with the empathy quotient of a cheese doodle to hijack the show.

Now viewers are tweeting mad that producers let this manipulative creep play out his abusive behavior over three episodes on the show. (Actually, more, since Herbert told People.com he's coming back in a future episode.) Sure he made for a good plot twist but was it worth it? His evil asides to the camera as he petted her head made us all feel like co-conspirators in his cruel prank.

And maybe in some way we were. But ethics and morality aren't two things I need to be thinking about when I'm watching my stories. 

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