French dramatist Jean Anouilh once said, “There is love of course. And then there’s life, its enemy.”

But love has a new enemy – television.

Dr. Travis Stork and Sarah Stone of ABC’s “The Bachelor: Paris,” announced on Tuesday that they are no longer a couple, according to the Associated Press. Stone said she thought their situation would be different had they met under other circumstances, and blames television’s prying eye for contributing to the relationship’s demise.

And she could be right.

In most movies, TV shows and more traditional sources like parents, people learn the No. 1 rule of dating – Be yourself.

Anyone who has ever watched a dating show on TV can tell, for the most part, the characters aren’t taking that advice. Apparently, the No. 1 rule of entertainment in reality TV, to be as outrageous and conflicting as possible, outweighs the dating rule. That’s what viewers are interested to see, and that’s the rule TV daters follow.

A variety of dating shows lends to the probability that most viewers have seen at least one. Many of these shows are aimed at teens and young people, like MTV’s “Dismissed,” “Taildaters,” “Next,” “Room Raiders” and “Date My Mom.” How could anyone know how compatible he is with another by looking at her dirty underwear or hanging out with her mom? This may not come as a surprise – not everyone is the same as their parents. These shows do not properly give young people a grasp on what to expect when dating in the real world.

Dating shows aren’t geared solely toward teens, but toward a variety of demographics. Late night shows like “Blind Date” and “ElimiDATE” take dating to the extreme, where couples rarely get along, except when they want to get in each other’s pants. Ongoing series like “Joe Millionaire” and VH1’s “Kept” keep viewers tuning in on a regular basis, sometimes to live vicariously through the contestants on the show, which can take away from their dating activity outside the living room. Bravo’s “Boy Meets Boy” took it one step further, venturing into the world of homosexuality by daring the bachelor to choose a mate among contestants, including some who were secretly straight.

Contestants on the shows are increasingly more outrageous and typical. There’s the 40-year-old woman who’s trying to win the heart of a 20-year old man young enough to be her son. There’s the slut wearing a string bikini who calls the other contestants bitches while testing the limits of how sexually explicit she could be on late night television. Viewers don’t see a lot of “the girl next door” trying to win the guy, unless she is portrayed as the underdog on the show.

How does anyone expect people to be themselves? For the most part, being themselves, reality in other words, is less entertaining.

Being in front of the camera not only tends to invite exaggerations of characters, but it takes away from privacy, which is necessary for the growth and maintenance of a healthy relationship.

Spending all their time in front of the camera, Stone said she and Stork didn’t get enough time to hang out and get to know one another. Not surprising. At least they have plans to remain friends, according to the article, because it turns out true love isn’t usually found in front of a camera.