High ratings and criticism

With its trashy couples and flirt shows, the private station 3+ seems to continue to strike a chord with the Swiss TV audience. On Monday night, "The Bachelor" was simultaneously the market leader and the most-watched show in all relevant target groups. With a market share of 19.6 percent, 3+ outperformed SRF1 by more than double with its own production.

The show is particularly popular with women. At 57.2 percent, the third episode reached more than one in two young female viewers (see graphic header image). The episode increased by 34 percent compared to the third episode of last season.

"Distorted image of love and eroticism".

Especially in the third episode, the audience was confronted with more or less explicit scenes: The "Bachelor", for example, licked champagne off a candidate's breasts or drank it directly from another participant's mouth.

The fact that such scenes are broadcast at the prime time of 8:15 p.m. bothers SP National Councilor Yvonne Feri, for example, who would like to ban the show from late-night programming: "The fact that young people are presented with a distorted image of love and eroticism is careless," she tells Blick. She appeals to 3+'s responsibility towards young viewers. Scenes like those mentioned above would either have to be censored or shown only after 10 p.m.

Feri has received support from SVP National Councillor Maximilian Reimann, who finds the show "in the highest degree of bad taste" and would not give a minute of his life to its consumption.

Unsurprisingly, station boss Dominik Kaiser has a completely different opinion. "The Bachelor" remains a show for the whole family, "even if there is kissing," the 3+ founder tells Blick. Daredevil candidates are "almost more preferable to the station than the bland," says Kaiser, who - also unsurprisingly - outed himself as a fan of his latest ratings guarantor Janosch Nietlispach. (hae)