The show, which is based in Los Angeles, is known for sending its contestants to far-out locales. However, as some fans should recall, contestants have also been flown to places like Pittsburgh and South Dakota.
“When I think about Ohio, I don’t necessarily think romance,” one of the contestants confesses on camera before arriving in Cleveland.
But once in town, the ladies and Bachelor Peter Weber all seemed to have a change of heart, going wild over their hotel room view of FirstEnergy Stadium and happily exploring downtown Cleveland (including running into a pierogi cart that doesn’t exist, and a random soapbox derby race).
However, some viewers were entirely unconvinced at the over-the-top turn-around seen throughout the dramatic episode. “I expected someone to say, ‘I thought the entire city was going to be on a large trash barge, but it’s actually livable! With a vibrant downtown!'” wrote Ali Barthwell for Vulture.
Rodger Sherman’s review for the Ringer made the argument that all the Cleveland-hate-turned-love was actually the non-profit convention and visitors bureau Destination Cleveland’s plan all along:
You may be surprised to learn Cleveland has a tourism bureau at all—if you were online in 2009, you might remember the “Hastily Filmed Cleveland Tourism Video,” in which a Clevelander tried to sell visitors on the city’s wide array of drifters and an economy entirely based on LeBron James—but it does, OK? And my bet is that the people who work there probably understand that most people think a trip to Cleveland does not sound appealing. So instead of network-mandatory excitement, the play here was to have all the women act pissed off that they have to go to Cleveland, then discover that it’s better than they expected. And sure enough, once the cast actually arrives in Cleveland, we learn about the surprising beauty of Northeast Ohio. The contestants go out of their way to mention how their time in Cleveland has changed their minds about the city. After a few days in the city, Peter declares it “surprising” and “a hidden gem.”Last year, when Scene learned the Bachelor was filming here in October, Destination Cleveland declined to answer how much money they paid to be featured on the show. But, for reference, other cities like Richmond, Virginia, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, have paid more than $300,000 to score precious screen time.
While millions of viewers across the country took in last night’s episode, it’s still too early to see if it will bring more visitors to Cleveland.
In the meantime, let’s take a look at other choice episode reactions from Bachelor Nation, some of which are sure to stir up strong feelings from those of us who actually live here:
The Bachelor fans get another look at Cleveland next week with the continuation of the rose ceremony, filmed at the Cleveland History Center.
Anyone looking for realistic Cleveland date ideas should check out this list we made right here.
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This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2020.
I know someone who does recruiting for a local college and he says all the Cleveland hate out there is overrated. The young people he talks to know about Lebron James and his love for Cleveland and have a positive view of the city. They also know about Cedar Point and are very interested in going there. Most of what they have seen of the city is from sports events that include video of state of the art sports facilities and beautiful aerial shots of the city and the lake. I think Destination Cleveland spent their money wisely as this is a good promotion but all the stupid uninformed comments about how EVERYONE sees the city are ridiculous. It’s simply not true and needs to be put to rest.
I suppose it’s a “good thing” that Cleveland is getting some positive publicity instead of the usual negativity, but 300 grand? To shill on a lame POS show like “The Bachelor?” WTF? Pass that pipe over here, bro!
Next time you wreck a wheel rim on a pothole (and I’ve done it four times in recent years), thank Frank and His Rat Pack for allowing somebody to piss away that kind of money for exposure on some lame show that only those with mush for brains are watching.
Oh, wow, we might even get a few extra brainless sheeple here next summer…maybe. Was it worth speending that much for the possibility of a mere fistful of tourist dollars? That 300 K could have fixed a lot of streets. Thanks a lot, assclowns!
That extra 300 k in the hands of city government would just be wasted. You’ve busted 4 rims on potholes because the workers they pay to fix potholes only put in 2 hours of actual work of an 8 hour day not because they put 300k towards promoting tourism. That has been well documented many times by undercover investigation teams, but the city has to hire young workers from within the city who don’t want to work and the city can’t do anything about it because they have no choice so they pretend like they don’t realize they have a staff of employees with horrible work ethics who waste taxpayers money everyday. Better that 300k goes to boosting tourism rather than being flushed down the drain in city hall’s coffers.
honestly, just shut the fuck up all together. we don’t care if you have or love us, most of us could care less about your “romantic” life as it goes. imagine saying something so dishonoring such as ” its actually livable” well i’m sorry miss pretty princess, not everywhere is about luxury. Saying things like that here will get you hurt.
The tourism bureau (Destination Cleveland) is separate from the city government.
They’re a non-profit that promotes Cleveland as a tourist destination. Tourism is a money-maker for the actual people of the city, not the government of the city.
If you hate the government of the city, vote them out. But don’t conflate them with the people who want to bring more visitors to the city, which has undeniable world-class attractions. (As well as potholes.)