Why Arie Luyendyk Jr. Says The Bachelor Process "Barely Works"

Arie Luyendyk Jr. found love on The Bachelor, but the success rate of the show isn't great—and Arie explains why.

By Chris Harnick Jun 11, 2020 5:01 PMTags
Watch: Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s Road to Fatherhood

He may have found love on The Bachelor, but Arie Luyendyk Jr. isn't sure the process works.

While on Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew, Arie and wife Lauren Burnham opened up about the reality TV dating process with hosts Shawn Johnson and Andrew East.

"I think, initially being The Bachelor, you trust in the process because you're like, ‘This has worked.' For me it worked in the past as far as having feelings toward somebody in a short amount of time," Arie said.

But the biggest trust exchange had to come from Lauren, he said, because she watched him date many other women while cameras rolled.

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"I kind of had to follow my heart. I still felt strongly about him, so, you know, if you're going to move passed something in life together, you just have to trust each other. At that point, we kind of felt like it was us against the world," she said about the ending to his season. "So it brought us close together and we realized we were the only people we could only lean on in that situation. That helped us trust each other a lot faster."

Cameras followed Arie after he sent Lauren home and gave Becca Kufrin the final rose. They were there when he broke things off with Becca too.

But the process doesn't always work as it did with Lauren and Arie.

"It's such a difficult — I hate to call it process — but it is a difficult show," he said. "And that's probably why you find that a lot of people don't make it is because it's just so taxing emotionally."

"It's just, like, it's not natural to have two people that you [have], at the end, and then have to break up with one person and get engaged to another person an hour later. It's just so weird. It's, like, no wonder it barely works," Arie continued.

There are few couples from the Bachelor franchise still together, even fewer who made it down the aisle.

Check out which Bachelor Nation couples are still together in the gallery above.

The Bachelorette season 16 was set to star Clare Crawley, but production never started due to the coronavirus pandemic. Producers have been vocal about their desire to still do the show, but acknowledged that it have to go a different route because of the pandemic.

There are currently calls from viewers and veteran cast members for Bachelor Nation to commit to more diversity both in front of and behind the camera. Out of 40 seasons of TV, there's only been one lead of color, Rachel Lindsay.