The first episode of reality TV show The Bachelor aired Mar. 25, 2002, kicking off a juggernaut dating-show franchise that has so far featured 26 seasons and multiple spinoffs, including The Bachelorette. The Onion looks back at the most memorable moments from The Bachelor’s first 20 years.
375 million years ago: First dumb hunk walks on land.
968 BCE: At God’s behest, King Solomon invites one of his 300 concubines to become his 701st wife in the first-ever season of The Bachelor.
2001: Producers pitch show to ABC executives, describing the real-life difficulty of being an extremely attractive person desired by 25 people.
2004: In a shocking turn of events, the bachelor gives a rose to that one woman instead of that other woman.
2007: Brad Womack decides that neither of the two final women are the one and joins a Tibetan monastery instead.
2010: Last recorded instance in which a contestant was there for the right reasons.
2012: After being proposed to but then dumped, Courtney Robertson writes a tell-all book about the concentration of polyfluoroalkyl substances in local gull populations.
2013: After running out of Laurens, the show casts its first Becca.
2017: Season 21 ends with a shocking twist after bachelor Nick Viall accidentally hands the rose to the boom operator.
2022: A negligible portion of the populace somehow still manages to date and marry without the benefit of appearing on The Bachelor.
