'The Bachelor' will remain one - Soules and Bischoff split

IOWA FARM boy Chris Soules (a/k/a "The Bachelor") and his beloved, fertility nurse, Whitney Bischoff, have ended their engagement, ABC News has confirmed - because at ABC, this is news.

The couple has "mutually and amicably decided to end their engagement," his rep said in a statement. "They part with nothing but respect and admiration for one another and will continue to be supportive friends. They wish to thank everyone who has supported them through this journey."

The "journey" being meeting on a TV show, enjoying weeks of faux dates and Whitney beating out Becca Tilley for a chance at true love.

We gotta say, "The Bachelor" track record kinda stinks. If you picked 25 strangers off of match.com, 20 of them may turn you down - or not even be on the site - and one of the remaining five still might be marriage material.

If you're "The Bachelor," the 25 women are pre-selected for looks and personality, basically led to the bachelor in a cattle chute, forced to spend time with the bachelor, forced to like the bachelor if they want to stay on the show and wined and dined in a mansion and on elaborate, romantic dates on ABC's dime - and it still never works out.

What chance does a normal person have?

From the Washington Post: "Radio consultant Keith Hill brands himself as 'the world's leading authority on music scheduling' and he has advice for country radio stations everywhere: Don't play too many songs by female artists."

To Hill, it's a data-based fact: The optimal amount of female singers on a country station for "robust" ratings is 15 percent.

Hill told industry trade publication Country Aircheck that the main reason for the gender gap is because women listen to more country radio and they'd rather listen to men.

"Trust me," he said, "I play great female records and we've got some right now; they're just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females."

Uh-oh. #Saladgate.

In Nashville the reaction from country stars, such as Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles and Terri Clark, was that they'd like to toss Hill's salad.

Said McBride to the Tennesseean: "The more these ideas and philosophies are allowed to perpetuate, the harder it is to keep them from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy."

People magazine's cover this week is headlined "The Duggars' Dark Secrets."

Their oldest son molested his sisters and they have dark secrets?

* Hulu has pulled "19 Kids and Counting" from its lineup, following reports of sexual misconduct allegations against Josh Duggar, back when he was a teen.

Although Hulu didn't confirm removal of the TLC series, episodes weren't found yesterday on the site. They had been available as recently as Wednesday.

The show's banishment follows TLC yanking the series from its program schedule last week.

The 27-year-old Duggar is the oldest of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's 19 children.

The FBI believes that one out of every 10 men may have molested a child. The Duggars have 10 sons.

When the incidents took place, only five of Josh's nine sisters had been born. He reportedly molested four of them. And they would have been aged 5 to 12 at the time.

Ick.

If a 15-year-old boy gets caught with his 15-year-old girlfriend, he can be charged with statutory rape, go to jail and be labeled a sex offender. If a 15-year-old Duggar molests his sisters he gets a TV show, a job as a moral lobbyist and the support of Mike Huckabee.

* Comedy Central says that Sept. 28 will be opening night for Trevor Noah as the new host of "The Daily Show."

The South African comedian will be stepping into the job held by Jon Stewart since 1999.

Stewart's last show is Aug. 6. The parody newscast will then go on hiatus.

* Chinese authorities have detained obscure Chinese artist Dai Jianyong after he posted a humorous portrait of President Xi Jinping online, his wife, Judy Zhu, said yesterday.

Zhu said that police detained Dai near their Shanghai home on Tuesday and accused him of "creating a disturbance."

Dai is known for posting eclectic photos on social media, including some showing himself and others scrunching up their lips (he's the Kylie Jenner of China) and eyes. Dai posted images of Xi with the same expression while wearing a moustache.

Now he faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Guess the Chinese have a way to go on the free speech thing.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

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