Viewers watch The Bachelor for its drama, even as they wonder why the villains always stick around. The Bachelor is famous for its share of combative contestants. Who can forget Courtney Robertson on Ben Flajnik’s season or Victoria Larson on Matt James’ season? It's also worth remembering Tierra LiCausi, who some viewers believe faked hypothermia so Sean Lowe would give her extra attention – and it worked. After doting on her during her “medical emergency,” he later claimed he’d been "duped.”
In season 26, bachelor Clayton Echard juggled no less than two villains: Shanae Ankney and Cassidy Timbrooks. Shanae managed to convince Clayton that she was the victim, even saying that contestant Elizabeth Corrigan was a red flag he should watch out for, when in fact Shanae was the villain all along, even mocking Elizabeth’s ADHD. Clayton seemed genuinely shocked to learn that Shanae was playing him, as he expressed in his tweet: “Oh boy…what I was being told then and what I’m seeing now is like watching two different movies.”
So, why does the bachelor often reward villains with a rose, even when the rest of the contestants want them gone? Is he just oblivious to the villains' evil in the house, or are the producers encouraging him to keep them around for added drama? It might be a little bit of both. The one thing all The Bachelor villains seem to have in common is that they are good at showing two sides of themselves. They are sweet and seductive to the bachelor while wreaking havoc with the rest of the contestants.
Bachelor naiveté aside, ABC tends to cast unsuspecting, trusting bachelors and pair them with feisty contestants, guaranteeing that at least one will become the season villain. Viewers know that producers do what they can to ramp up the drama and that they might play a role in making sure the villains always stick around, even when the bachelor wants to send them home. Controversial contestants receive more air time, sometimes overshadowing worthy women who never had a chance. Some viewers are getting frustrated with The Bachelor producers’ manipulations and want the show to return to its original objective, which is to find love, not make stars out of villains.
This often becomes reality when The Bachelor villains also go on to appear on the Bachelor in Paradise spinoff. For example, BIP has featured the villainous Chad Johnson, Lacy Faddoul, and Jordan Kimball, among others. Presumably, The Bachelor spinoff contestants have previous knowledge of their castmates and should know who the villains are. In that case, they can’t say they weren’t warned.
Source: Clayton Echard