Every year, 27 women and one man are flown to Agoura Hills, California to live in a mansion. They leave their everyday lives behind with hopes of finding true love, the problem: all 27 women are expecting to fall in love with the same man.

This year, the lives 27 bachelorettes and one bachelor can be followed on ABC’s 18th season of The Bachelor, which premiered on Jan. 6. This year, the network referred to January as “Juan”uary because the bachelor’s name is Juan Pablo Galavis.

Juan Pablo, 32, was rejected on the 2013 season of The Bachelorette when Desiree Hartsock denied him a rose only four weeks short of the finale.

“Juan”uary has been a busy time for Juan Pablo; he started out with 27 women to choose from on week one, but by week three there were only 15 women left. The girls that Juan Pablo decides to keep at the end of each week are given a rose, a token that earns them another week to try and steal his heart. The girls without a rose are asked to pack their bags.

How could the situation not end happily for everyone involved, right? Wrong. By the end of the season, 26 girls will have their hearts crushed because they really believed they were in love with Juan Pablo. Not to say that they didn’t deserve it… they consented to being on the show.

What kind of psychotic person would watch the emotional destruction of 26 women? Well, I do… but I don’t watch anxiously, waiting on Juan Pablo to pick “the one.” I don’t envy the 27 makeup-laden bachelorettes. I actually laugh at them. Did all 27 of these girls really think they would find love through a reality TV show? Did they not realize when the season began that they had a 3.7 percent chance at winning the deeply cherished final rose?

Junior Christina Bacon agrees.

“I don’t take the show seriously,” she said. “I just like to laugh at the girls.”

An example of the emotional damage inflicted by the show is this season’s former contestant, Victoria Lima. Victoria was not a fan-favorite, but she was nonetheless popular because her drunken stampede on episode two was sufficiently entertaining. According to Victoria, “the pressure just got to her.” At least she apologized on national TV.

Amy Jokinen also had an emotional fiasco. She was sent home on the first night after giving Juan Pablo a back massage in front of 7 million viewers. Did she not realize that would be awkward? Her last 30 seconds of fame displayed her in tears, crying because after only minutes with Juan Pablo she had supposedly discovered that he was “the one.” Too bad for Amy that Juan Pablo didn’t feel the same way.

Emotions run high on The Bachelor, and because of this only 2 couples out of 17 seasons remain together: Jason Mensnick and Melissa Rycroft and Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici. That’s a 12 percent success rate.

I have no doubt that the couples on the show really feel like they are in love; it would be hard not to when you’re taken away from your whole life and flown to exotic places for dates… but the trouble sets in when the couples head back to reality, and that’s why success rates are so low.

Freshman Francesca Macchiavello agrees.

“Of course I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to find true love on the show. The dates they go on are completely out of the ordinary and if put in a realistic setting, would never happen,” she said.

The Bachelor might seem far-fetched, but some viewers really believe it makes them dumber.

“I enjoy watching The Bachelor because I think it’s funny, but sometimes it honestly makes me feel like I’m losing brain cells,” said senior Chloe Robertson.

As dumb as the show might be, viewers still enjoy choosing their favorite contestants. My personal favorite happens to be Renee because she seems mature.

“I like Cassandra because she is already a mom and Andi because she is really down to earth,” said Bacon.

When it comes right down to it, the majority of young viewers do not watch The Bachelor in hopes that the guy will pick one of the girls and fall madly in love. We watch it because it is hysterical, because it allows us to laugh and maybe, somewhere deep down, it makes us feel slightly better about our own lives. And maybe, just maybe, that is enough of a reason to continue watching.