Why this season of The Bachelorette was set up to fail before it even hit our TV screens.

I think we all saw this coming.

Especially when the first three episodes of The Bachelorette pretty much consisted of Paddy yelling out “FIT” and Ivan dancing… to no music.

You see, we’re four weeks into this season and ratings are at an all time low.

Even die hard fans are turning away in droves and those who are persisting with the show are doing so… begrudgingly.

The Bachelorette has, at least for now, lost some of its magic.

There’s no one reason for this. Instead, the show’s downfall can be attributed to several small missteps.

Listen to the latest episode of Bach Chat…

First, Ali Oetjen was an odd choice for the Bachelorette. Not because she’s been through the franchise twice before, or even because the announcement was overshadowed by rumours of her infidelity involving… the stairs.

But because the average Australian woman can’t relate to her.

Ali, as lovely as she is, has spent the past five years in the public eye as a reality TV show contestant turned influencer. She projects an image of her perfect life on Instagram, in between promoting her own recipes and wellness programs.

Every single element of her life seems flawless, except for her love life. And when her dating life goes askew, she’s given a national platform in which to find her ideal man.

Our previous Bachelorettes – Sam Frost, Georgia Love, and Sophie Monk – all had completely different backstories. But they held the same qualities – they were funny, flawed and a little bit awkward.

We could see a lil’ bit of ourselves in them – and we really wanted to invest in their love story.

Whereas Ali seems almost untouchable, like this gorgeous mythical creature who lives in a soap opera, and never breaks out in a sweat or accidentally smears her lipstick.

Secondly, announcing Ali was going to be the Bachelorette before applications opened, means the show feels even more manufactured than it did in previous seasons.

The contestants applied for the show knowing it was Ali and already having preconceived notions about her.

There was less risk for the men who applied and almost more opportunity for them to use this experience to get whatever they wanted out of it.

It’s become increasingly obvious that some of them wanted to save a damsel in distress, while others saw it as an opportunity to launch their, erm, dance dreams.

This has resulted in possibly the most bizarre line up of contestants in Bachelor history.

It’s almost like we’ve been left with a parody of the show, in which every contestant is a caricature of himself.

Charlie is playing the overbearing, possessive villain who yells and points at the door a lot. Robert was the nice guy who turned out to be a bit too intense. Paddy is the class clown who should have gone home at least a week ago. And Todd is the sweetheart who is being set up for heartbreak.

While there’s lots of drama and tweetable moments, there’s no real love story developing.

And if we can’t invest in the Bachelorette or any of her contestants, we’re left with a show which feels like a shell of its former self.

Oh, and a whole lot of hilarious memes.

You can read my recap of last night’s episode here.