Let's Talk About That Mud Wrestling On The Bachelorette

To quote Christina Aguilera, next week's episode of The Bachelorette is going to get a little dirty. The contestants will compete in a mud wrestling competition, according to a sneak peek provided by E! Online. (See evidence of said competition to the left.) From the looks of the press photos for the episode, the men will strip to their skivvies and get muddy.

This type of Bachelorette interaction can get a little hairy — muddy? — because the competition is degrading. These men will get dirty. Very dirty. They will don swim shorts and tussle like baby piglets in mud-pulp. All the while, Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay and her gaggle of fellow previous contestants (Raven, Alexis, and Jasmine from last season of The Bachelor) will watch, all of them wearing see-through plastic raincoats.

"Let me see that butt!" one spectator, who doesn't appear to be part of Bachelor Nation, hollers.

The men seem a little abashed about the whole affair, at least in the clip.

"Never ever ever ever have I ever done anything this embarrassing in front of a bunch of people," a contestant named Eric tells the camera. He appears to be talking about mud-wrestling, although it's entirely possible he's just talking about this nationally televised show he's on.

This is the sort of Bachelorette antic that might ruffle feathers. Before we raise our pitchforks for the poor men in the wrestling ring, though, let's revisit this fact about the Bachelor franchise: When it comes to embarrassing competitions, it does not discriminate. These men will mud wrestle. The women on Ben Flajnik's season had to ski through San Francisco in bikinis. The contestants on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor wore bikinis for a bridal photo shoot. Chris Soules' turn as suitor had the women in — surprise! — string bikinis as they rode tractors through Los Angeles. (During this segment, one contestant invoked the phrase "show me your country.") And, lest we forget, Rachel Lindsay's suitors got slinky to the tune of "Pony" on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

This franchise runs on embarrassment and degradation. The question at the heart of it all is: How far are you willing to go for love? How much of your dignity are you willing to sacrifice? Put on your romance glasses, y'all. The mud wrestling is stupid, but it's not any worse than anything the franchise has done before. And the ones who get more invested in the game will probably win the whole shebang — on top of maybe falling in love.

Watch the full preview clip, below.