The Bachelorette’s Trista Sutter Reveals if Love Can Truly Be Found on Reality TV, 20 Years Later
As the first Bachelorette, Trista Sutter revealed that she wouldn’t have said yes to Ryan Sutter if she didn’t truly believe that he was “the one.”
But how do you take that leap of faith on reality TV, especially when you’ve only been with the person a handful of times? Trista believes it is truly possible to find love on reality TV.
Trista Sutter thinks true love is possible on a show like ‘The Bachelorette’
“I do,” she told Showbiz Cheat Sheet about finding love on TV. “We met through the show, but it’s what we did with our relationship after the show that really mattered. And I think that still holds true. As long as you are on the same page and that’s what you want out of the show, then it definitely is achievable if you. Just by prioritizing the relationship.”
Sutter’s Bachelorette love story went viral and became a springboard for 19 seasons. She knew she had made a “true love” connection. “I did,” she said. “Not everyone else did but I did. I wouldn’t have said ‘yes’ if I didn’t.”
How has ‘The Bachelorette’ changed in the last 20 years?
Twenty years later and the couple is still going strong. Sutter looked back on how much The Bachelorette has changed since 2003.
“There are a lot of things that are very similar, just the format, even though there used to be like a very specific format. We went from 25 to 15 to eight, like it was very specific,” she said. “It was very specific that you went from rose ceremony to rose ceremony in a show. And now it’s like you never know where they’re going to end, when they’re going to start in terms of the time of filming. So they don’t really care about the format, which is not a big deal.”
“I think that social media has played a huge role in the change of the show,” she said. “I think that that has changed a lot in terms of maybe the motivations of some people who come on the show. Maybe they want to gain more of a following on social media. A little bit of cyberbullying is happening. I mean, maybe not a little bit. A lot of cyberbullying happens, I feel like with the show.”
“So you have to come into it with a really thick skin and a lot of security and who you are. There’s so many things. I mean, more than 20 years ago, February 19 was when our proposal aired .”
Trista reflects on a ‘lack of innocence’ today
Sutter also acknowledges that she didn’t come into the experience armed with a big strategy when she was The Bachelorette.
“I mean, there have been books about how to be successful on the show or blog posts like all kinds of things. There’s so much media out there about how to be successful on the show. That guy [Ryan Fox] on Michelle’s [Young] season had his little binder. So they totally found him out and she was in his room. Like he had all this material on how to woo her.”
“And yes there is a little bit, I will say not completely because I do still believe there are people there for the right reasons,” she insisted. “But there is a little bit of a lack of innocence. It doesn’t mean that I’m still not a huge fan of the show, I always will be. Because to me it’s like you’re watching a love story unfold and rooting for the couple and hoping that they end up together. And for me, it’s kind of a family. But I do think that there is a bit of a lack of innocence.”
