4.2 /10 1 Votes
5.3/10 TV Created by Mike Fleiss Original language(s) English No. of episodes 218 Presented by Chris Harrison | 3/10 IMDb Genre Dating game show Country of origin United States No. of seasons 21 First episode date 25 March 2002 Number of seasons 21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Network American Broadcasting Company Winners Lauren Bushnell, Catherine Giudici, Courtney Robertson Cast Nick Viall, Chris Harrison, Chris Soules, Juan Pablo Galavis, Andi Dorfman Similar The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, Bachelor Pad, Average Joe, More to Love Profiles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Bachelor is an American reality television dating game show that debuted on March 25, 2002, on ABC. The show is hosted by Chris Harrison. The show's success has resulted in several spin-offs including The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Bachelor in Paradise, and Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise.
Contents
- Production
- Plot
- Setting
- The elimination process
- Spin offs
- Questions of authenticity
- Lawsuit
- International versions
- Parodies
- References
Production
It is created and produced by Mike Fleiss and directed by Ken Fuchs. The After The Final Rose and other reunion specials are produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, CA.
Plot
As the show is designed, the series revolves around a single bachelor (deemed eligible) who starts with a pool of romantic interests (typically 25) from whom the bachelor is expected to select a wife. During the course of the season, the bachelor eliminates candidates (see The elimination process), with the bachelor proposing marriage to his final selection. The participants travel to romantic and exotic locations for their adventures, and the conflicts in the series, both internal and external, stem from the elimination-style format of the show.
The above description is a general guideline. In practice, the show does not always follow its designed structure, and those variations are often a source of drama and conflict.
The two most notable cases where the bachelor violated the premise of the show are Brad Womack, who selected neither of his final two women, and Jason Mesnick, who in the After the Final Rose episode broke off his engagement and several months later proposed (offscreen) to the first runner-up. (The two are now married.)
Setting
For the first two weeks of filming the contestants stay in "Villa De La Vina," a 7,590-square-foot (705 m2), six-bedroom, nine-bath home in Agoura Hills, California. The custom home, built in 2005, is located on 10 acres at 2351 Kanan Road. As of October 10, 2008, the home was listed for sale at a price of US$8.75 million. The final third of the episodes within a season are filmed traveling the world. Episodes have been filmed throughout the United States, Canada, England, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea to name just a few. The Agoura Hills, California mansion has not been used on several occasions, including during season 7- where filming took place in New York City, home of Charlie O'Connell, who had appeared in Sliders with his brother Jerry O'Connell; Paris, France for season 8; and Rome, Italy- where Lorenzo Borghese, who is half Italian, lived- for season 9.
The elimination process
On each Bachelor episode, the bachelor interacts with the women and presents a rose to each woman he wishes to remain on the show. Those who do not receive a rose are eliminated. Eliminations are based upon the bachelor's personal feelings about each contestant, guided primarily by the impression made by each woman during dates or other events of the week. Most roses are presented at a rose ceremony at the end of each episode, but roses can also be bestowed on dates. Typical activities include
If a rose is at stake on a date, the participating women pack their suitcases in case they fail to receive a rose. The other women learn that a woman has been eliminated when that woman's suitcase is taken away by a crew member.
The final episodes of each season traditionally follow this pattern:
A woman may withdraw from the competition at any time if she finds herself no longer interested in the bachelor. On rare occasions, a woman is removed from the show for breaking one of the rules.
The bachelor has wide discretion in choosing how many and when to present the roses. For example, Sean Lowe presented several roses at his initial cocktail party.
It is common to accuse a contestant of not being on the show "for the right reasons", meaning that her aim is not to establish a relationship with the bachelor, but rather to garner publicity for her own career, induce jealousy in an ex-boyfriend, become selected as the next Bachelorette, or simply to get a free trip to exotic locations.
Spin-offs
The show's success has led producer Mike Fleiss to create multiple spin-offs, including The Bachelorette, in which the format is gender-reversed. The bachelorettes are eliminated contestants from The Bachelor. Season 11 of The Bachelorette had two bachelorettes (but only for the first episode).
On August 9, 2010, Bachelor Pad premiered, giving previous contestants of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette the opportunity to compete in dating-themed eliminations for $250,000.
On August 4, 2014, Bachelor in Paradise premiered, giving previous contestants of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette the opportunity to compete for another chance in love in dating-themed eliminations. The series went on to have a spin-off of its own, Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise, which also serves as a spin-off to The Bachelor and it premiered on August 3, 2015.
The weddings of Trista Rehn (the 1st Bachelorette), Jason Mesnick (13th Bachelor), Ashley Hebert (the 7th Bachelorette), and Sean Lowe (the 17th Bachelor) were broadcast as television specials. Rehn's vow-renewal ceremony upon her 10-year anniversary was also broadcast. Bachelor in Paradise Season 2 couple, Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert's wedding was also broadcast as television special in February of 2016.
On January 4, 2016, Bachelor Live, a one-hour after show talk show premiered, hosted by Chris Harrison.
First airing in October 2016, Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? showcased the relationship of Ben and Lauren following season 20 of The Bachelor.
Premiering on March 20, 2017, The Twins: Happily Ever After will star Haley and Emily Ferguson from season 20 of The Bachelor and showcase them "saying goodbye to the comfort and luxuries of living under their mom's roof and beginning the hilarious journey of figuring out life on their own while searching for independence and a new career."
Questions of authenticity
On February 26, 2009, in an exclusive interview between The Bachelor season 13 contestant Megan Parris, and Steve Carbone, Megan commented that the producers edit the footage to create a fictional storyline. "I don't think [the producers] showed any real conversation I had with anyone... The viewers fail to realize that editing is what makes the show... You'll hear someone make one comment and then they'll show a clip of somebody's face to make it look like that is their facial reaction to that statement, but really, somebody made that face the day before to something else. It's just piecing things together to make a story."
On March 26, 2009, Megan Parris argued that not only was the show scripted, but that producers bullied contestants into saying things to the camera that contestants did not want to say. "There's nothing real about it," she said of the show's trademark "confessionals," in which contestants talk to the camera about the latest goings-on. "It is scripted," she said. "They basically will call you names, berate you, curse at you until they get you to say what they want you to say." Both ABC and Warner Bros., the studio that produces The Bachelor, had no comment.
On March 15, 2010, creator Mike Fleiss appeared on 20/20 and said that he develops contestants into characters that will cater to his audience's tastes and that they "need [their] fair share of villains every season." Fleiss has come under fire for admitting that The Bachelor has less to do with reality than it does making good television.
On February 24, 2012, during the taping of The Women Tell All episode of The Bachelor, a private conversation between contestant Courtney Robertson and a show producer went public when microphones were accidentally left on in between camera takes. The conversation revealed the producer's role as a coach encouraging Robertson to fake certain emotions for the camera.
The audience reactions for the The Women Tell All episode are pre-recorded and inserted into the show later.
Lawsuit
In December 2011, the producer of The Bachelor sued Steve Carbone, a Bronx-born, California-raised Internet enthusiast from Frisco, Texas and proprietor of the website RealitySteve.com, for leaking unreleased information about the show, claiming Carbone encouraged contestants of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette to break their confidentiality agreements. Carbone has denied that the source of the leaks are current contestants.
International versions
An upcoming season No longer airingParodies
The novelty of the show makes it a ripe target for parody.
Ben Stiller produced a web spoof of the series entitled Burning Love.
Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel also created a parody called "The Baby Bachelor" in Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which the titular role is given to his 3-year-old nephew Wesley.
The Fox network produced a show, Joe Millionaire, based on the premise that the bachelor was a millionaire heir, when in reality, he was not.
On June 1, 2015, Lifetime began airing Unreal, a scripted drama about a producer who works on Everlasting. It is based on Sarah Gertrude Shapiro's short film Sequin Raze and her experience as a field producer on The Bachelor.