I watched some of the Batchelor.

There, I said it.

Not really sure what the demographic is here but it is almost certainly an attempt by its makers to cash in on the phenomenal success of the last few re-booted series of Love Island.

The concept has, like Love Island, been kicking around for quite a while and they haven’t really done a lot to that central conceit.

Good looking chap, in this case the dashingly hirsute personal trainer Alex, attempts to find his one and only from an assembled array of beauties all competing for his affections.

And, I think, therein lies my problem with it.

Having to perform in order to be chosen.

Admittedly, each of them would have known this fact beforehand and there was at least one who decided she could not actually cope with this and the stresses of being trapped with a host of other women all with the same goal.

And she was joined by another who quickly called time on her efforts after failing to find a “connection” with Alex.

This was a word which were there the opportunity to copyright it, would have made a heap of cash for its owner during the series.

Mind you, that particular girl made her decision following a group date which saw her and two others head out with Alex on a shark cage diving expedition.

However much you had the hots for someone I think you would find it somewhat of a challenge to feel romantic whilst bobbing about on a boat in the middle of the sea and then popping into a cage whilst potential man-eating fish circled you.

Unsurprisingly the other two girls were not chosen to stay - one of which had suffered excruciating sea sickness and spent the entire time vomiting over the side of the boat.

She meekly asserted, as she said goodbye, that perhaps Alex may not have seen her at her best.

You think ?

But he had a whale of a time throughout, taking out the steady stream of ladies who wore less and less as the run went on and seemed to get more desperate, cutting in on the time each of them had and continuously slagging each other off to camera.

In our enlightened times I just think this put us all back about thirty decades.

Yes, Alex is a perfectly nice chap, but I would respectfully suggest he wasn’t worth all that sighing and crying.

And there is a very real chance you would struggle to get to the mirror in the mornings since that pony tail looked suspiciously time intensive.

Predictably, the public was divided as to who he should have chosen while there seemed little information as to whether the romance had continued after the cameras stopped rolling.

I suspect this is no Jack and Dani match-up but no doubt they will keep it going long enough to make a bit of money out of it.

Unlike Love Island, there were no efforts here to stretch out the run with the ten episodes rolled out over consecutive evenings.

I wonder why they made this decision because it gave little time to gather momentum or word of mouth.

Having said that, keeping them all on location would have cost a great deal of money.

And why have Mark Wright there ? He appeared to do little more than be on hand for the quite frankly cringeworthy rose giving ceremony.

I know what I would have told them to do with that rose.