If you ever wondered what is behind the scenes of your favourite TV shows, then wonder no more! Speedway Motors is a YouTube channel that explores the production of popular reality TV shows back-to-back, naming each one’s unique production team and showcasing all their work. In the first episode, we take a deep dive into how the series The Bachelor is made and meet several of the show’s key creative team members, including former Bachelorette Rose McGraw and contestant Ashley Imber. Let’s get into it!
The Bachelor’s Unique Production
Nowadays, not many people know how the hit TV show The Bachelor is produced, and for good reason! The format is pretty unique. After all, what is The Bachelor but a reality TV show where one unlikely but good-natured soul is chosen over the other nine bachelors?
Well, The Bachelor is not just one show. There are now five season of The Bachelor and five season of The Bachelorette, with more on the way. Not only that, but The Bachelor consists of several mini-seasons interleaved with the entire run of the show. So, if you want to see how The Bachelor is made, you have to watch all 15 episodes in the order the network has arranged them in. However, to make things easier for you, we’ve put together a brief guide to the show’s production process.
The Bachelor 1.0
The first season of The Bachelor, premiered in 2002 and consisted of just three bachelors (Jake Ashley, Josh Daniels, and Jesse Sweeney) who met during a business trip to Switzerland. At the end of the season, twenty-two women competed for Ashley’s hand in marriage. During interviews for the show, the bachelors would sometimes refer to this season as The Bachelor 1.0.
This was primarily because, at the time of premiere, the show had not yet found its identity and was experimenting with the formula to fit the times and the demographics of its viewers. For example, Josh Daniels was picked because he was originally from Texas and the show was aimed at an American audience. Likewise, Jesse Sweeney was picked because he is a native English speaker and the show is broadcast in English worldwide. In addition, a key executive producer on the show at the time admitted they were hopeful that this season would pull in a big audience and make the show worthy of a second season. However, as the years went by, the show didn’t grow with it and the label The Bachelor 1.0 started to grieve a little bit.
The Bachelor 2.0
The second season of The Bachelor, premiered in 2004 and consisted of four bachelors (Jason Madden, Josh Grant, Chris Harrison, and Jared Wick) who met during a camp trip to Argentina. This season was a bit of a return to form for the show, as the four bachelor protagonists all met during their senior years in college. One of the key stories for this season was the relationship between Jason Madden and Sarah Hart. After eight wonderful nights together, on the show’s sixth episode they announced they were getting engaged. However, just twelve days later, the publicity hit and the couple called it off.
This caused a major controversy because, prior to this season, The Bachelor had never before struck such a romantic nugget with so many potential end results. Some critics accused the show of being in a race to see which bachelor could be the most romantic. However, the romance between Sarah Hart and Jason Madden was a dramatic shift for the show, which received an eight out of ten from the critics who tracked the opinions of a couple of academic sociologists who watched The Bachelor over the course of a week. Some people still believe that this is the best season of The Bachelor to date, even though the show is now in its third season and consists of five bachelors. However, the show has established itself as a family show since then, with each season bringing something new to the table. So, for the most part, the show has dropped the 1.0 from its title and is now just called The Bachelor.