What is with all the Bachelor/ Bachelorette hype?

Two summers ago the highlight of every Monday night back home was watching and listening to my sister and mom watch the bachelor. Those two love that show. Everything about it. To this day I cannot comprehend why. Every Monday night my dad and I knew to stay away from the family room unless we wanted to be fully immersed into the "reality" show. It was like they were at a sporting event, analyzing every move made by the participants. They would choose their favorite person on the show and adopt that person as their "favorite team." Anytime that person made advances in winning the show I would hear cheering coming from the family room. Every time something unfavorable happened to that person all I would hear would be yelling and complaining. These women were fully immersed in the show, almost acting like they were the ones in the show. I know that it is very entertaining (not from personally watching it but my mom and sister have definitely told me), but how is it possible to be so into something labeled as "reality," when almost everyone knows it is scripted? In my opinion, love is not something that can be found through a nationally televised competition, but yet so many people believe that these people are finding true love. Maybe some people have found true love through the show, but they are in the minority. It is just very confusing to me that people "compete" for their husband or wife. Regardless, my little rant on here will not change the opinions of millions of women that have parasocial relationships with the show's characters, but I'm glad I was able to share my opinion on the show.