Bachelor fans are going to war with Oprah. How did this feud begin?
Viewers have spent ages investing themselves in Joey’s The Bachelor journey.
However, on Monday night, the Bachelor Nation found their intended show preempted by Oprah Winfrey’s advocacy for dubious weight loss medications.
Branding the town fall event an “Ozempic infomercial,” Bachelor fans are rioting. And they’re making some solid points.
Oprah Winfrey speaks onstage during the 55th NAACP Image Awards at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on March 16, 2024. (Photo Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)
‘The Women Tell All’ became an all-Oprah Winfrey event
The Bachelor‘s “The Women Tell All” special did not air at 8 PM EST on Monday, March 18. It instead aired at 9 PM.
Oprah Winfrey pushed it aside, filling the 8 PM timeslot with a town hall style ABC special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution.
Clearly, ABC and Oprah alike wanted viewers to watch. And perhaps they counted on some Bachelor viewers tuning in out of habit and staying tuned.
On March 18, 2024, Oprah Winfrey held a “town hall” to discuss what she calls the “weight loss revolution.” (Image Credit: ABC)
We want to emphasize that the special did not specify a specific medication. Viewers assumed the use of a semaglutide, and specifically the infamous name brand of Ozempic.
However, Oprah spoke with a woman who had lost 85 pounds using an unnamed, undisclosed weight loss medication.
“There is now a sense of hope, and you no longer blame yourself,” Oprah remarked. She acknowledged that she, personally, has experienced a lot of external shaming — especially from tabloids — during her decades of fame.
Oprah Winfrey attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024. (Photo Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
To Oprah, luxury weight-loss medication feels like a blessing
“When I tell you how many times I have blamed myself because you think, ‘I’m smart enough to figure this out,’ and then to hear all along it’s you fighting your brain,” Oprah described.
“I come to this conversation in the hope that we can start releasing the stigma and the shame and the judgment,” she expressed.
Oprah continued: “To stop shaming other people for being overweight or how they choose to lose or not lose weight and, more importantly, to stop shaming ourselves.”
Obviously, there are numerous issues with Ozempic and similar “miracle” weight loss drugs.
We do not yet know the long-term effects of non-diabetic patients taking semaglutides for extended periods of time. Yet even people who’ve been hospitalized while taking Ozempic continue to praise the medication.
We live in a society that would rather someone be physically ill than overweight. That is a societal problem, one that no medication can cure.
Oprah Winfrey speaks onstage during the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 14, 2024. (Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association)
Using Ozempic for weight loss has one certain consequence
As reality stars (Ozempic is more of a hot topic among Real Housewives than within the Bachelor world, for now) have pointed out, use of semaglutides for luxury weight loss has created documented shortages.
This means that there are diabetes patients in the United States who need this medication, but cannot access it.
Of course, Bachelor fans mostly took issue with how the timing of Oprah’s special annoyed them.
Joey Graziadei smiles in front a live studio audience. (Image Credit: ABC)
“I was excited to turn on the bachelor but instead Oprah is on my TV giving an infomercial for Ozempic … who asked for this !?!?” penned one annoyed fan on Twitter.
“Why is oprah on my tv right WHERE IS MARIA?!” a Maria Georgas fan demanded in another tweet.
“They could have made the [Women Tell All] 3 hours long if they hadn’t decided a stupid Oprah ozempic special was more important,” blasted a third tweet.
Give the people what they want!
‘Bachelor’ Fans Blast Oprah Winfrey Town Hall: No One Needs an Infomercial … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.