Summertime is upon us. The weather is sunny, love is in the air and it’s my favourite time of the TV year because scripted series are in repeats and Reality TV can truly reign. Between The Bachelorette’s premiere this past Monday May 28th and Big Brother 20 recently announced for June 27th, my summer is covered.

I don’t know how you do things but when I get wind on my shows starting up again, it’s natural for me to start my social creep i.e. searching and trying to find as out as much information on as many contestants and early details as possible. As I was doing this for both shows, I started to fall down a sinkhole and made a shocking discovery. It turns out there are actually more successful Big Brother Showmances than there are Bachelor couples – 29% vs 24% respectively to be exact.

And even though I’m only scratching the surface since this is for the U.S. shows only, there is something to be said given that the whole premise of The Bachelor series is to find love. Big Brother is simply a game. I became so obsessed with why this might be that I started to dive even deeper and came up with a few reasons why. Because as it turns out, when you stop and think about it, those Big Brother Showmances are actually set up to outlive and outlast those Bachelor couples.

The Romantic Pressure Is Off

You know how they say you can’t force someone to love you? Isn’t that kind of exactly what The Bachelor does? It’s set up to force people in to a romantic relationship. Flip to Big Brother and the idea of finding love is truly the last thing on most people’s minds. In fact, it’s often see as a disadvantage to be in a showmance on Big Brother as it puts a huge target on your back to other players. That being said, the fact that romance is not at the focal point likely positively impacts a relationship since the two people who are involved are most likely in it because they want to be, not because they’re being produced.

A Big Difference in the 1:1

Look once you decide the be in a Showmance, you are basically on a three-month long 1:1 date. The biggest difference between The Bachelor and Big Brother is that the pair who make it to the end actually get to be together from the minute they decide they want to try. So often you hear lead contestants from The Bachelor share that they knew who they wanted to pick on night one or two but it’s a television show founded on the process, so they need to go through the motions, date other cast members and ultimately make their final decision. On Big Brother the concept is much more realistic. The pair decides they’re doing to damn thing and then you know, they just do. They get all that 1:1 time, uninterrrupted and typically without any threat of somebody else trying to steal your partner.

The Trust Factor

Sure on both shows you have no contact with the outside world and yes, you’re also in competition with the people you’re living with. BUT the biggest difference here is that when you choose to Showmance on Big Brother, you’re literally saying I trust you completely as my partner and you can trust me right back baby. Trust is there FROM THE GET GO. You form the strongest bond that you can between two players, creating an alliance, both for the competition and romantically. You just can’t achieve this level of trust on The Bachelor, because it’s a different game and a different set up in that a couple isn’t living together, working toward the same goal that isn’t being together. The Showmance relationship gets the trust factor right from the beginning and actually grows the longer the couple is on the show. To be honest, it’s actually also an important value in any relationship, even one outside of the house, #justsayin.

So even though The Bachelor is all about looking for love in all the right places – is it really the best place to find it on television? I’m suddenly not so convinced. If I was going to take my pick, I’d go for the show that doesn’t emphasize romance and instead gives me the opportunity to meet someone and build a more organic relationship. Because as it stands right now, Big Brother has the better odds. And for now, all l that’s left to do is watch these two shows play out this summer and see if my theory holds up. I’ll be watching, will you?