The Bachelor (franchise)

This article is about the reality television franchise. For other uses, see Bachelor (disambiguation).

The Bachelor
Created by	Mike Fleiss
Original work	The Bachelor (United States)
Owner	Warner Bros. Entertainment
Years	2002–present
Films and television
Television series	The Bachelor (see international versions)
Miscellaneous
Genre	Dating game show
First aired	March 25, 2002;22 years ago (2002-03-25)
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Studios
Official website
BachelorNation.com

The Bachelor is an American romance and relationship multimedia franchise which began with the reality television series The Bachelor in 2002 and now includes multiple spin-off television series, a podcast network, a website, live tour, and more.

The franchise has been financially successful, bringing in $86 million in advertising revenue alone in 2017. ^[1]

Television series

The Bachelor (2002–present)

The Bachelor revolves around a single bachelor who begins with a pool of romantic interests from whom he is expected to select a wife. During the course of the season, the bachelor goes on group and one-on-one dates to get to know the candidates, and eliminates some of them each week, eventually culminating in a marriage proposal to his final selection.

The Bachelorette (2003–present)

Following the success of The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss produced The Bachelorette , in which the format is gender-reversed. The bachelorettes are often eliminated contestants from The Bachelor. Season 11 of The Bachelorette had two bachelorettes (but only for the first episode). Season 16 had two bachelorettes (one for the first half of the season, the other the rest of the season). Season 19 had two bachelorettes for the whole season.

Bachelor Pad (2010–2012)

Bachelor Pad premiered in August 2010, giving previous contestants of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette an opportunity to compete in dating-themed eliminations for $250,000. This summer series lasted three seasons. ^[2]

Bachelor in Paradise (2014–present)

Bachelor in Paradise premiered on August 4, 2014, giving previous contestants of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette the opportunity to compete for another chance in love in dating-themed eliminations.

Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise (2015–2016)

Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise premiered on August 3, 2015 and was a live, weekly talk show that features cast of the series and celebrity fans discussing the most recent episodes of Bachelor in Paradise. The series also featured questions from the audience, deleted scenes, outtakes and exclusive extra content. The talk show was hosted by Michelle Collins and co-hosted by Sean Lowe.

Bachelor Live (2016)

Bachelor Live premiered on January 4, 2016, and was a one-hour talk show hosted by Chris Harrison which aired directly after The Bachelor. ^[3]

Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? (2016)

First airing in October 2016 on Freeform, Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? showcased the relationship of Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell following season 20 of The Bachelor on their plans for marriage and Bushnell's new life in Denver. ^[4] The couple eventually parted ways in May 15, 2017. ^[5]

The Twins: Happily Ever After (2017)

On March 20, 2017, The Twins: Happily Ever After premiered on Freeform. The series stars Haley and Emily Ferguson from season 20 of The Bachelor and showcases 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." ^[6]

The Bachelor: Winter Games (2018)

The Bachelor Winter Games premiered on February 13, 2018. The show follows a similar premise to that of Bachelor in Paradise with a few twists. One stand out twist is that the cast is made up of international contestants from The Bachelor franchise. All contestants participate in various winter sports in order to win a date card. ^[7] Ashley Iaconetti (American) and Kevin Wendt (Canadian) were the winning couple of the first season, after competing in an ice skating dance routine against three other couples. ^[8]

The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart (2020)

The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart premiered on April 13, 2020. follows single men and women, who are musicians or work in the music industry, hoping to find love through music. The contestants will sing well-known songs, both individually and as couples, and explore their relationships while living together and going on Bachelor -style dates that focus on music. ^[9]

The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever! (2020)

On April 29, 2020, a 10-episode documentary series titled The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever! was announced. It premiered on June 8, 2020. ^[10] It was originally titled The Bachelor: The Most Unforgettable—Ever! before its name was changed on May 11, 2020. ^[11] The series contains recaps of previous seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and features interviews with former cast members. It is hosted by Chris Harrison.

The Golden Bachelor (2023)

In January 2020, a casting call was issued for men and women aged 65 and older, for an edition of The Bachelor starring senior citizens. ^[12] On May 16, 2023, after a 3-year-delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC commissioned the first season of The Golden Bachelor , to premiere in Fall 2023. ^[13]

Wedding specials

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 a television special in February 2016. In addition, the inaugural couple from Golden Bachelor , Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist, aired their wedding as a live special, The Golden Wedding, in January 2024.

Canceled spin-offs

In 2020, ABC announced plans to produce a summer counterpart of The Bachelor Winter Games, which would have presumably aired against the 2020 Summer Olympics (just as Winter Games aired against the Winter Olympics). On March 30, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic (which itself caused the 2020 Olympics to be postponed to 2021), it was reported that production of the spin-off had been cancelled. ^[14]

In other media

Live show

The Bachelor Live On Stage was announced on January 23, 2019 during the Men Tell All episode. A local Bachelor would go through group date challenges and coveted one-on-ones with local ladies in the audience. Audience members and hosts would assist the Bachelor. ^[15] Ben Higgins and Becca Kufrin are slated to host the 63 stop tour starting in Mesa, Arizona on February 13, 2020 with the final stop in Austin, Texas, was scheduled on May 17, 2020. However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, half of the shows have been postponed and they were rescheduled to January 24, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. ^[16]

Podcast

Bachelor Happy Hour is a podcast series hosted by Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt. It was originally hosted by Rachel Lindsay and Ali Fedotowsky. It premiered on July 19, 2020 and features weekly guests from various Bachelor Nation shows. ^[17]

Digital series

The franchise has launched numerous digital series featuring cast members from the various television shows.

Meet and Greet

One-on-one interviews with cast members not shown in the television shows.

Bachelor Happy Hour: Open Bar

Expanded video version of the podcast Bachelor Happy Hour.

Bachelor Nation Encore

Deleted and extended scenes not seen in the television show.

Will You Accept This Ride?

Interview series where YouTube creator Lisa Schwartz interviews various cast members in the back of a limo.

Bad Chiller

Comedic recap show featuring Nick Viall. ^[18]

Video game

The Bachelor: The Videogame was released in 2010 for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. It gives players the opportunity to compete in a series of dates inspired by the television show.

Critical reaction to the game was negative. ^[19]

International versions

  An upcoming season

  No longer airing

The Bachelor

Country	Name	Host	Network	Date premiered
Africa	The Bachelor Afrique	Emma Lohoues	Canal+ Afrique	October 15, 2022
Albania	Love Story	Alketa Vejsiu	TV Klan	November 16, 2020
Australia	The Bachelor Australia	Osher Günsberg [20]	Network Ten	September 8, 2013
Belgium (Flanders)	De Bachelor	Goedele Liekens [21]	Play4	February 9, 2022 [22]
Brazil	The Bachelor	Fábio Arruda	RedeTV!	November 21, 2014
Bulgaria	Ергенът The Bachelor	Naum Shopov	bTV	February 19, 2022
Canada [23]	The Bachelor Canada	Tyler Harcott	City	October 3, 2012
China [24]	The Bachelor (黄金单身汉）	Qiu Qiming	Mango TV	October 1, 2016
Croatia	Gospodin Savršeni	Antonija Blaće	RTL Televizija	November 19, 2018
Czech Republic	Vem si mě – The Bachelor	Mário Kubec	TV Nova	September 9, 2007
	Bachelor Česko	Zorka Hejdová		2024
Denmark	Bachelor	Petra Nagel	TV2 Play	May 25, 2021
France	Bachelor, le gentleman célibataire	Stéphane Rotenberg (2003–2005) Grégory Ascher (2013–2014) Boris Ehrgott (2016)	M6 (2003–05) NT1 (2013–16)	May 7, 2003
Finland	Suomen unelmien poikamies	Sami Kuronen	Nelonen	February 2008
	Bachelor Suomi			March 14, 2016
		Mikko Parikka	MTV3	March 1, 2022
Germany [25]	Der Bachelor	Arne Jessen (2003) none(2011–)	RTL	November 19, 2003 January 4, 2011
Greece Cyprus	The Bachelor	George Satsidis	Alpha TV	September 10, 2020
Hungary [26]	A Nagy Ő	László Szarvas (1–2) András Stohl (3) Ramóna Lékai-Kiss (4–)	TV2	September 9, 2003
India, State of Tamil Nadu	எங்க வீட்டு மாப்பிள்ளை Enga Veetu Mapillai	Sangeetha Krish	Colors Tamil	February 20, 2018
India, State of Kerala	Aryakku Parinayam	Sangeetha Krish	Flowers TV	February 26, 2018
Indonesia [27]	The Bachelor Indonesia	Oka Antara	HBO Asia	February 10, 2023
Israel	הרווק HaRavak	Guy Geyor	Channel 10	2009
Italy	The Bachelor – L'uomo dei sogni	Cristina Parodi	Canale 5	June 26, 2003
Japan	バチェラー・ジャパン The Bachelor Japan	Koji Imada (1–4) Shingo Fujimori, Rino Sashihara (2–4)	Amazon Prime Video	February 17, 2017
New Zealand	The Bachelor New Zealand	Mike Puru	TV3	March 17, 2015
Norway	Ungkaren	Christopher Dons	TVNorge	2003
Poland	Kawaler do wzięcia	Krzysztof Banaszyk	TVN	October 8, 2003
Romania [28]	Burlacul	Lucian Marinescu (1) Cătălin Botezatu (2–4) Andreea Mantea (5) TBA (6-)	Antena 1	June 8, 2010
Russia [29]	Холостяк Holostyak	Pyotr Fadeyev (2013–2020) Nikita Dobrynin (2021) Mikhail Belyanin (2021–2022)	TNT	March 10, 2013
Slovakia	Nevesta pre milionára	Viliam Rozboril	TV Markíza	2006
	Ruža pre nevestu	Krištof Králik		March 3, 2023
Slovenia [30]	Sanjski moški	Peter Poles (2021) Nejc Šmit (2022)	POP TV	September 2004
South Africa	The Bachelor SA	Jason Greer	M-Net	February 2019
Sweden	Bachelor – När leken blir allvar	Malin Stenbäck (2015–2022) Amie Bramme Sey (2024–)	TV4	October 2015
Switzerland	Der Bachelor [31]		3 Plus TV	October 30, 2012
Thailand [32]	The Bachelor Thailand ศึกรัก...สละโสด The Bachelor Thailand (Bachelor...Battle of Love)	Natpawin Kulkanlayadee	ONE	August 27, 2016
Ukraine	Холостяк Holostyak	Ivan Gorodetsky (2011) Hryhoriy Reshetnyk (2012–)	STB	March 17, 2011
United Kingdom [33] [34]	The Bachelor	Jeremy Milnes (2003–05) Hugo Speer (2011–12) Mark Wright (2019)	BBC Three (2003–05) Channel 5 (2011–12, 2019)	March 30, 2003 August 19, 2011 March 4, 2019
United States	The Bachelor	Chris Harrison (2002–21) Jesse Palmer (2022–)	ABC	March 25, 2002
Vietnam	The Bachelor Vietnam – Anh chàng độc thân	Khôi Trần	HTV7	August 14, 2018

Note:

• Reruns of the original American version are also broadcast in Australia on Nine Network.
• Originally, the Indonesian show, The Bachelor Indonesia was set to air on NET. based on The Bachelor, Warner Bros. Television deals with the format of the show in collaboration with distribution and production in Indonesia through PT Dunia Visitama Produksi, known under the name Fremantle for the Indonesian version.^{[ clarification needed ]} However, this show was canceled for an unknown reason. Finally, the show was confirmed to be aired on HBO Asia. ^[27]

The Bachelorette

Country	Name	Host	Network	Date premiered
Australia	The Bachelorette Australia	Osher Günsberg	Network Ten	September 23, 2015
Belgium (Flanders)	De Bachelorette	Dominique Van Malder  [ nl ] [35]	Play4	February 18, 2021 [36]
Canada	The Bachelorette Canada	Noah Cappe	W Network	September 13, 2016
Denmark	Drømmekvinden		TV Danmark	September 12, 2004
Finland	Bachelorette Suomi		Nelonen	October 1, 2018
Germany	Die Bachelorette	none	RTL	November 24, 2004
Hungary	A Nagy Ő	László Szarvas	TV2	March 9, 2004
India	The Bachelorette India	Rohit Roy	Life OK	October 23, 2013
Japan	バチェロレッテ・ジャパン The Bachelorette Japan	Takashi Okamura, Hiroyuki Yabe, Shelly	Amazon Prime Video	October 9, 2020
New Zealand	The Bachelorette New Zealand	Art Green	TVNZ 2	January 27, 2020
Romania	Burlăcița	Cătălin Botezatu (Season 1) Bogdan Vlădău (Season 2) Radu Vălcan (Season 3)	Antena 1	July 7, 2011
Slovenia	Sanjska ženska		POP TV	1st season: 2005 2nd season: 2006
Spain	Para toda la vida. The Bachelorette	Jesús Vázquez [37]	Telecinco / Cuatro	December 12, 2022
Sweden	Bachelorette Sverige		TV3	March 27, 2011
		Malin Stenbäck	TV4	November 15, 2021
Switzerland	Die Bachelorette		3+	April 27, 2015
Ukraine	Холостячка Holostyachka	Hryhoriy Reshetnyk	STB	October 23, 2020
United States	The Bachelorette	Chris Harrison (Seasons 1–16) Kaitlyn Bristowe & Tayshia Adams (Seasons 17 & 18) Jesse Palmer (Season 19-)	ABC	January 8, 2003

Bachelor in Paradise

Country	Name	Host	Network	Date premiered
Australia	Bachelor in Paradise	Osher Günsberg	Network Ten	March 25, 2018
Canada	Bachelor in Paradise Canada	Jesse Jones (Season 1) Sharleen Joynt (Season 2-)	Citytv	October 10, 2021
Germany	Bachelor in Paradise	none	RTL	May 9, 2018
Sweden	Bachelor in Paradise	Malin Stenbäck	TV4	August 21, 2023
United States	Bachelor in Paradise	Chris Harrison (Seasons 1–6) Guest Hosts David Spade, Lance Bass, Tituss Burgess, Lil Jon, Wells Adams (Season 7) Jesse Palmer (Season 8-)	ABC	August 4, 2014

The Golden Bachelor

Country	Name	Host	Network	Date premiered
United States	The Golden Bachelor	Jesse Palmer	ABC	September 28, 2023
France	Le Golden Bachelor	Stéphane Rotenberg	M6	June 27, 2024
Germany	Der Bachelor	Franz Stärk	RTL	December 3, 2024

Cultural impact

Cast members featured on the show often gain a large social media following, which in turn creates various sponsorship and employment opportunities once they leave the show. ^[38] In recent seasons some cast members have been accused of going on the show specifically for this reason, leading to accusations of "being here for the wrong reasons."

The various television series shoot on location in cities around the world, and promotion from these visits has been coined "The Bachelor Effect." Exposure on the shows has led to increased tourism and economic activity in the locations featured. ^[39]

The franchise inspired the fictional show UnReal , which stars Shiri Appleby as a young reality television producer pushed by her unscrupulous boss (Constance Zimmer) to swallow her integrity and do anything it takes to drum up salacious show content.

References

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External links

• Official website