There's a reason that only one out of 23 Bachelors has ever had a successful marriage with his pick on the show, (though two more remain in a relationship with their pick and another is married to the runner-up). The Bachelorette has a slightly higher success rate, with six out of the 14 couples still together. There's also a few couples that sprung out of Bachelor spin-offs that have found love in a seemingly hopeless place.

That last one may be the most puzzling rule in the series, but it also seems to be the strictest. Contestants on both The Bachelor or The Bachelorette tend to be very young—especially the women. As Insider reported in January , the average age for female contestants is a little over 26, with 79 percent of the cast being 28 or younger. For the straight-razored Chads seeking the final rose, the median age is 29, and 48 percent have clocked in at 28 or younger.

Still, the odds aren't great, and that's probably due to the age range of the series' contestants. No one setting foot in the Bachelor mansion, where they'll experience near-complete isolation from society, antiquated Christian-centric ideas of love and sex, and weird hostel-style bunk beds, should be under 30 years old. Engrave that in stone.

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Age is a constant theme on the series, because age is tied to the one question everyone asks ad nauseam: Are they ready for it? "It," of course, is marriage, because that's the goal of this reality show—to marry off every one of these former NBA dancers, sales bros, and Equinox trainers. The Bachelor is the pushy immigrant mom of reality TV, telling you you're old when you're not, and begging you not to let them die before meeting a grandchild.

And without fail, every contestant questioned about their maturity or readiness to enter a television-based engagement at age 21 assures the audience, the producers, and the Bachelor himself they are just being discriminated against by decrepit 32-year-old hags for being creaseless and further from death's grip. Of course they’re extremely mature and completely ready for marriage, they say. What this hot take presupposes is... maybe they're not?

Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s season broke boundaries never before seen on The Bachelor by featuring four women named Lauren, one named Becca, and another named Bekah. Becca Kufrin, 27, took the final rose, but then it was rescinded because Luyendyk just couldn't get Lauren Burnham, 25, out of his mind. Luyendyk was 36. During that season, Bekah Martinez was hounded for her age, which she avoiding revealing for as long as possible until finally admitting that she was 22. The house erupted, going in on her alleged lack of maturity and readiness for a forever love (this dumb chatter is common discourse on nearly every season of the franchise). At no point did anyone think it was kind of gross that Luyendyk, an unsuccessful race car driver and Zonie who struggled to form a coherent sentence, seemed to have a season stacked with very young women, chosen by producers who consider the show lead's type as well as who'd make for good TV. And he gladly dated Martinez even though she had only legally been able to drink for one year. He needed someone hot and ready like a Little Caesar's pizza, yes, but if they could also not know what a Quad City DJ is, that'd be ideal. Though on various occasions he wrung his hands about her age, it didn't stop him from slipping the tongue into a mouth still eligible for coverage by her parent's insurance.

Colton Underwood, last season's Bachelor, was only 26 when he was handed the black tuxedo of destiny. His thing was that he's a virgin, having focused too hard on football (and grown up in a very Christian household) to have ever gotten around doing even a single sex. But he was ready! Not just to experience the sensation of lovemaking on his penis, but for marriage, too. At 26. The season's most dramatic moment, which was played over and over again, came when Underwood jumped a fence in Portugal in one stealthy swoop after getting dumped by eventual winner Cassie Randolph, who admitted to not being sure about the relationship, nor ready for marriage... probably because she's 23.