‘Bachelor in Paradise’ Took Ratings Win on Reality-Heavy Monday Night

Bachelor in Paradise secured a ratings victory on Monday night despite the fierce competition, especially among other reality shows.

The Bachelor and Bachelorette spinoff series aired its fourth episode on Monday, and it did particularly well. According to a report by Variety, the episode managed a 1.3 rating in the key demographic of adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This tied it with its previous episode, which also had a solid Nielsen rating. It also offered some support to ABC’s following show, The Proposal, which ticked up one tenth of a point to a 0.6 rating.

Bachelor in Paradise held a substantial lead over the other networks’ offerings in the same time slot. Its closest competitor was American Ninja Warrior on NBC, which held steady at a 1.0 just like last week. On Fox, So You Think You Can Dance dropped to a 0.5, while The CW’s Whose Line is it Anyway? was close behind with a 0.4.

On CBS, James Corden hosted a Carpool Karaoke special with Paul McCartney. Miraculously, the former Beatle drew only a 0.6 rating, in fairness, music fans had other things to be preoccupied with.

Monday night was the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. The ratings for the award show are not out yet, but judging by the conversation on social media, plenty of people tuned in — though not everyone was a fan.

The ceremony suffered from the absence of many, if not most of today’s biggest stars. As a review in Rolling Stone pointed out: “No Drake, no Bey, no Tay, no Adel, NO Rihanna. No Kendrick or Childish Gambino or Lorde or Cher.” The poor attendance by America’s biggest pop idols made it hard to get invested in the theatrical show.

Still, producers did their best to pack the night with memorable and significant moments, and to some extent they succeeded. Many fans were overjoyed to see Jennifer Lopez take home a lifetime achievement award, not to mention her massive performance with a herd of muscular men.

Likewise, the collaboration between Post Malone and Aerosmith scratched an itch for many fans as it bridged a generation gap that needs help finding common ground.

The night also saw a performance by Nicki Minaj, who pulled out all the stops after her new album Queen had a disappointing debut on the Billboard charts. Her friend and frequent collaborator, Ariana Grande, put on a show as well, singing her single “God is a Woman” at an all-female table resembling the Last Supper.