Coming Full Term on Labor of Love

What happens when you want to have a baby by the end of the year, but also want to find a baby daddy and maybe love along the way? You get the Fox reality competition Labor of Love where mother-to-be, Kristy, gets the Bachelorette treatment among 15 single men ready to jump into fatherhood. Yes, it’s the kind of trash reality TV you would expect from Fox, but at the end of it all, it became an even bigger dumpster fire than I could have expected.

Long story short, after months of watching these men go through ridiculous, baby-themed challenges, including a sperm count check in the first episode, we were left with the final two men: Kyle and Stewart. Their journey to the finale was very different as Kyle received a one-on-one date before the last possible elimination while Stewart became an early front runner and continued to show his love throughout each episode. Even Kristy said it herself during the finale that Stewart “checked every box she had” when looking for a father, but ultimately chose Kyle as she “wanted to see if there was more” that could lead him to becoming a great father. This set the Twittersphere aflame following the finale as everybody was rooting for Stewart to be the chosen father.

Immediately following the finale, several news articles were posted online saying that Kristy and Kyle had broken up only months after the show wrapped filming. This shocked nobody as Kyle was still living the bachelor lifestyle with no indication of fatherhood in his near future. During an impromptu Instagram live chat with Kyle and Stewart following the finale, there was constant love for Stewart in the chat and even some championing him to return as the lead in the next season. He said he wouldn’t return and that the lead decision should always be a woman's decision.

Ultimately, Kristy went with IVF after she ended things with Kyle, as that was always an option as indicated since the beginning. I haven't been this disappointed with a finale since Jesse McCartney didn’t win The Masked Singer dressed up as the Turtle. Maybe it’s time I stop watching Fox reality competitions, as they seem to leave me with disappointment in the end (except for Gordon Ramsay’s shows). While Labor of Love has come to an end, at least it wasn’t as bad as Joe Millionaire. Okay, everything is better than Joe Millionaire.