Published 2013-01-28T15:46:00Z”/>

Nicole Santos

Monday nights couldn’t arrive any faster. The new season of the ABC reality television show, “The Bachelor,” returns.

I’ve never watched a single season of the show until now. Maybe it’s the new face that grabbed my attention, or maybe it’s the fact that while watching the second episode, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “I could never go on one of these shows.”

However, I can’t blame the women for signing up for this season. Bachelor Sean Lowe is a catch. The 29-year-old from Dallas, Texas calls himself a humble family man. And he is stunning.

Yet throughout the two-hour episode as I watched Lowe flirt, kiss and mingle from woman to woman, I was disgusted with the overall concept of the show.

How romantic is it to speak with Lowe one-on-one with five or so cameras surrounding them? Nothing spells romance like flirting and pouring your heart out in front of a camera crew.

The last date I went on was at Peet’s Coffee and Tea in Downtown Chico, and I could feel the eyes of those sitting and sipping their mochas as they stared at my date and me as we ordered our coffees. It felt like they were watching us as we went about our date, up until we left the shop.

The stares continued as we walked around Bidwell Park. They came from a woman walking her dogs and married couples holding hands.

It was slightly overwhelming considering we weren’t a couple. We must have looked awkward, making it obvious we were on a first date.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the allure of signing up for a show like this when the “prize” at the end is a man like Lowe, but I would never place my heart in that situation.

I also wouldn’t want thousands of eyes from all over the world watching my love story unfold on their television screens. Love is something that should be found spontaneously and when it is right a person will know.

I would not be emotionally stable if I were forced to compete against 25 other women for the same man. To watch the man I am supposedly falling in love with, fall for several other women at the same time, would be a daily heartbreak.

The disgusted feeling I felt from episode two lingered as I witnessed Lowe and a contestant named Lesley Murphy set the “World’s Longest On-Screen Kiss” recognized by the Guinness World Records.

The kiss occurred in front of an audience who cheered and watched the couple lock lips for more than three minutes and 16 seconds. Twenty seconds into the kiss I felt how incredibly awkward it was to watch from the couch.

Don’t get me wrong, public displays of affection can be cute, but that kiss became too much as Lesley grabbed Lowe’s hair and started laughing. Lowe felt Lesley up the entire time and made her already short dress appear even shorter.

The Bachelor is trying to find love by making out, groping and flirting with too many women all at once. For some guys this may be a fantasy, but I don’t know what woman would willingly sign-up to witness and endure all of this.

I consider myself a hopeless romantic, and this is the last thing I would ever do to find love.

I’d rather be the woman who is confident she can find love on her own. The woman who watches “The Bachelor” from the comfort of her couch and is entertained by women crazy enough to believe that reality television will help them find true love.

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<strong>The Orion can be reached at</strong> <a href=”mailto:[email protected]”><em>[email protected]</em></a>