The Bachelor (U.S. TV series)

For the recently concluded season, see The Bachelor (season 17).

The Bachelor
The Bachelor Logo for On The Wings of Love
Format	Competitive reality show Drama
Created by	Mike Fleiss
Starring	Chris Harrison (host) List of Bachelors section
Narrated by	Chris Harrison
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	17
No. of episodes	141 (approx) (As of March 11, 2013)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mike Fleiss Lisa Levenson
Running time	60 minutes (2002–2006) 90 minutes (2006–2008) 120 minutes (2009–present)
Production company(s)	Next Entertainment Warner Horizon Television Telepictures Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Picture format	480i (SDTV) (2002–2009) 720p (HDTV) (2010–present)
Original run	March 25, 2002 (2002-03-25) – present
Chronology
Related shows	The Bachelorette Bachelor Pad The Bachelor (UK version) The Bachelor (Canadian version)
External links
Website

The Bachelor is an American reality television dating game show debuting in 2002 on ABC. For all seasons, the show is hosted by veteran television personality, one-time game show host and news anchor Chris Harrison. There are two related series: The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad.

Production

It is produced and directed by Mike Fleiss and is shot by camera operator Jesse Fleiss.

Plot

The series revolves around a single bachelor (deemed eligible) and a pool of romantic interests (typically 25; 30 in season 15), which could include a potential wife for the bachelor. The conflicts in the series, both internal and external, stem from the elimination-style format of the show. Early in the season, the bachelor goes on large group dates with the women, with the majority of women eliminated during rose ceremonies. As the season progresses, women are also eliminated on one-on-one dates and on elimination two-on-one dates. The process culminates with hometown visits to the families of the final four women, overnight dates, should they choose to accept, at exotic locations with the final three women, and interaction with the bachelor's family with the final two women. In many cases, the bachelor proposes to his final selection.

During most seasons, the majority of the show takes place, and the contestants reside, 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 a confidential location. As of October 10, 2008, the home was listed for sale at a price of US$8.75 million. This mansion is used throughout of most seasons of the show, with the exceptions of New York City, where Charlie O'Connell, who had appeared in Sliders with his brother Jerry O'Connell, lived, where season 7 was filmed; Paris, France for season 8; Rome, Italy for season 9, where Lorenzo Borghese is half-Italian and various locations in the U.S. such as Northern California and Utah for season 16, where Ben Flajnik filmed his season in his hometown for early episodes of that season.

The show is known for its dramatic twists, both structurally and contextually. In some cases, the bachelor may or may not follow the show's standard rose ceremony guidelines. Numerous bachelors, for instance, have conferred fewer roses than allotted as per standard rose ceremony procedure; others have eliminated both women on a two-on-one date. One bachelor, Brad Womack, selected neither of his final two women. Another, Jason Mesnick, proposed to one woman, and then changed his mind during the "After the Final Rose" show to the other finalist; Mesnick is now married to her. Other twists include a woman leaving the show for work-related reasons and the dismissal of one candidate for an alleged affair with an ex-producer of the show.

The show's success has led producer Mike Fleiss to create multiple spin-offs, including The Bachelorette, in which the format is gender-reversed. Many bachelorettes are runner-ups or eliminated contestants from The Bachelor, including Trista Rehn, whose wedding to Ryan Sutter – the show's winner – was televised on ABC. 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.

The elimination process

According to the summary on ABC.com, each new Bachelor episode contains a rose ceremony during which one or more contestants is eliminated. Eliminations are based upon date performance (i.e., how the women relate to the bachelor on the dates). The bachelor must follow a process of elimination wherein his pool of bachelorettes is narrowed down week by week by presenting a rose to each of the women he wishes to keep.

At any point during the process, if a woman decides she is no longer interested in the bachelor, she may leave. A few have actually done so over the course of the show.

In the end, the bachelor may select only one woman for the final rose. Several of the bachelors have proposed, and one bachelor selected no one.

As of the end of season 16, none of the bachelors has married the woman to whom he presented the final rose. The season 13 bachelor (Jason) ended up marrying his season's runner-up in February 2010; to this point, it is the only Bachelor season thus far to result directly in the bachelor's marriage.

Seasons

Season	Premiered	Bachelor	Profile	Winner	Runner(s)-Up	Proposal	Aftermath
1	March 25, 2002	Alex Michel	Management consultant	Amanda Marsh	Trista Rehn	No	Michel did not propose to Marsh, but instead they took a chance at a relationship. Marsh and Michel broke up after several months, and runner-up Rehn was featured on the first season of The Bachelorette. Marsh married her childhood friend, Jay Caldwell, and they have a daughter named Chloe.
2	September 25, 2002	Aaron Buerge	Vice President of a chain of family-owned banks	Helene Eksterowicz	Brooke Smith	Yes	They broke up after several months. Buerge became engaged to Angye McIntosh and married in 2009. In 2013, Eksterowicz got engaged to senior technology consultant, Andrew Goodman. Finalist Gwen Gioia became a contestant on the first season of Bachelor Pad.
3	March 24, 2003	Andrew Firestone	Sales manager of Firestone Family estates	Jen Schefft	Kirsten Buschbacher	Yes	Schefft and Firestone broke up after several months but remained friends. He is now married to actress Ivana Bozilovic. Schefft was featured on the third season of The Bachelorette. She went on to find love away from reality TV, marrying Chicago public relations executive Joe Waterman in May 2009. The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Mae Elizabeth, on November 13, 2010. The couple welcomed their second daughter, Charlotte Grace, on July 31, 2012.
4	September 24, 2003	Bob Guiney	Creator of a mortgage company and former suitor on The Bachelorette	Estella Gardinier	Kelly Jo Kuharski	No	Guiney did not propose to Gardinier but she accepted a promise ring indicating that they would still date. They broke up shortly after the show aired. Guiney later married soap opera star Rebecca Budig, but they split after five years of marriage. Meredith Phillips, who came in fourth, was featured on the second season of The Bachelorette.
5	April 7, 2004	Jesse Palmer	Canadian American college football player	Jessica Bowlin	Tara Huckeby	No	Palmer did not propose to Bowlin. They continued to date but broke up several months later.
6	September 22, 2004	Byron Velvick	Pro bass fisherman and divorced father	Mary Delgado	Tanya Michel	Yes	Velvick and Delgado split after five years.
7	March 28, 2005	Charlie O'Connell	Actor	Sarah Brice	Krisily Kennedy	No	O'Connell chose Brice to be the winner but did not propose to her. Instead they took a chance at a relationship. They broke up in September 2007, but got back together in 2008. However, they called it quits again in 2010. Runner-up Kennedy became a contestant on the first season of Bachelor Pad.
8	January 9, 2006	Travis Lane Stork	Medical doctor	Sarah Stone	Moana Dixon	No	Stork did not propose to Stone. Instead, they took a chance at a relationship. They broke up shortly after the show aired. Stork is now featured on The Doctors and is now married to pediatrician Charlotte Brown.
9	October 3, 2006	Prince Lorenzo Borghese	Cosmetics entrepreneur	Jennifer Wilson	Sadie Murray	No	Borghese did not propose to Wilson. They entered into a relationship, and broke up in January 2007. Finalist Tara Durr is now married to John Presser, who was a contestant on the fifth season of The Bachelorette. Another finalist, Erica Rose, became a contestant on the second season of Bachelor Pad and later returned for the third season of that show.
10	April 2, 2007	Andrew Baldwin	US Naval Officer	Tessa Horst	Bevin Nicole Powers	Yes	Horst and Baldwin called off their engagement one month after the finale, but continued their relationship. They broke off the relationship in September 2007. Finalist Peyton Wright became a contestant on the first season of Bachelor Pad and is married to Chris Lambton, who was the runner-up on the 6th season of The Bachelorette.
11	September 24, 2007	Brad Womack	Bar owner	None	DeAnna Pappas and Jenni Croft	No	Womack chose Croft and Pappas as the two finalists, but they were both rejected in the season's finale. Pappas was featured on the fourth season of The Bachelorette. Womack returned to the show for its 15th season (see below). Finalist Sarah Newlon became a contestant on the third season of Bachelor Pad.
12	March 17, 2008	Matt Grant	Global financier	Shayne Lamas	Chelsea Wanstrath	Yes	Grant and Lamas broke up in July 2008 as they felt their lives were going in different directions, but stated they would remain close friends. Finalist Holly Durst became a contestant on the second season of Bachelor Pad, which she later co-won along with her ex-fiance and former Bachelorette contestant Michael Stagliano. Durst is married to The Bachelorette 7 contestant and dentist Blake Julian whom she met on the second season of Bachelor Pad.
13	January 5, 2009	Jason Mesnick	Account executive, single father, and former suitor on The Bachelorette	Melissa Rycroft	Molly Malaney	Yes	On the season's finale, Mesnick had called off the engagement with Rycroft, and resumed a relationship with runner-up Malaney. Rycroft later appeared on the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars and is now married to Tye Strickland and has one daughter. Rycroft also took part in the fifteenth season of Dancing with the Stars and won the program. On October 20, 2009, Mesnick proposed to Malaney in New Zealand, which she accepted. They were married on February 27, 2010, in California. Mesnick and Malaney's wedding aired on national television on March 8, 2010. The couple welcomed their first child, Riley Anne Mesnick on March 14, 2013. Third-place finalist Jillian Harris was featured on the fifth season of The Bachelorette. Finalists Natalie Getz and Nikki Kaapke became contestants on the first season of Bachelor Pad while Rycroft co-hosted the program. Getz went on to co-win the first season of Bachelor Pad. Another finalist, Ann Lueders, is now married to The Bachelorette winner Jesse Csincsak and has one son.
14	January 4, 2010	Jake Pavelka	Commercial pilot and former suitor on The Bachelorette	Vienna Girardi	Tenley Molzahn	Yes	They ended their relationship in June 2010. Pavelka appeared as a celebrity contestant on the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars. Fourth-place finalist Ali Fedotowsky was featured on the sixth season of The Bachelorette. Runner-up Molzahn along with other finalists Gia Allemand, Ashley Elmore, Elizabeth Kitt, Michelle Kujawa and Jessie Sulidis became contestants on the first season of Bachelor Pad. On that show, Tenley Molzahn got together with Kiptyn Locke from The Bachelorette Season 5. Allemand would return for the second season of Bachelor Pad along with finalist Ella Nolan, winner Girardi, and Pavelka himself.
15	January 3, 2011	Brad Womack	Returning Bachelor (see above)	Emily Maynard	Chantal O'Brien	Yes	Womack and Maynard broke up in May 2011 but remained friends. Third-place finalist Ashley Hebert was featured on the seventh season of The Bachelorette. Finalists Alli Travis, Michelle Money, Jackie Gordon and Melissa Schreiber became contestants on the second season of Bachelor Pad. Maynard was featured on the eighth season of The Bachelorette.
16	January 2, 2012	Ben Flajnik	Winemaker and former suitor on The Bachelorette	Courtney Robertson	Lindzi Cox	Yes	Flajnik and Robertson originally broke up in February 2012 while their season was airing. However, they were later reconciled and got engaged for the second time, but broke up again in October 2012 for good. Runner-up Cox, along with finalists Blakeley Jones, Jamie Otis, Jaclyn Swartz and Rachel Truehart became contestants on the third season of Bachelor Pad.
17	January 7, 2013	Sean Lowe	Entrepreneur and former suitor on The Bachelorette	Catherine Giudici	Lindsay Yenter	Yes	Lowe and Giudici are still happily engaged and announced their televised wedding. Lowe appeared in the sixteenth season of Dancing with the Stars. Desiree Hartsock, who came in fourth, will be featured in the ninth season of The Bachelorette.

Controversies

As of January 2012, The Bachelor and its popular spin-off show The Bachelorette have never featured a non-white contestant in the title role, in their combined 21 seasons. Furthermore, a disproportionate majority of the rest of the contestants featured on the show have been white. When asked about the lack of minority representation on the two shows executive producer, Mike Fleiss, responded, "It's just that for whatever reason, they don't come forward. I wish they would."

Questions of authenticity

Former contestants, as well as the show's creator, Mike Fleiss, have come forth asserting that both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are scripted. The Bachelorette star Jesse Csincsak argued that contestants had to follow producers' orders and that a storyline was created in the editing room.

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 an acting coach encouraging Robertson to fake certain emotions for the camera which she was not feeling.

Reality Steve

The self-named Reality Steve (aka Steve Carbone) has been accurately leaking spoilers of The Bachelor since the 13th season in 2009. He publishes rumors of the show, including its spin-offs The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad on his blog. In December 2011, the producer of The Bachelor sued Carbone for leaking information about the show. The suit claims that Carbone encouraged contestants on both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette to break their confidentiality agreements. Reality Steve has denied that the source of the spoilers and rumors are current contestants.

Video game

A video game based on the series has been released on the Wii and Nintendo DS.

International versions

Country	Name	Host	Network	Date premiered
Australia	The Bachelor Australia	TBA	Network Ten	2013
Canada (English)	The Bachelor Canada	Tyler Harcott	Citytv	Fall 2012
Chile	TBA	TBA	Citytv	September 2012
Finland	Suomen unelmien poikamies	Sami Kuronen	Nelonen	February 2008
Germany	Der Bachelor	Arne Jessen	RTL	2003
Israel	הרווק Haravak	Unknown	Channel 10	2009
Norway	Ungkaren	Unknown	TVNorge	2003
Poland	Kawaler do wzięcia	Krzysztof Banaszyk	TVN	October 8, 2003
Romania	Burlacul	Cătălin Botezatu (Season 1) Edward Popescu Strohlen (Season 2) Vladimir Drăghia (Season 3)	Antena 1	June 8, 2010 May 5, 2011 March 1, 2012
Russia	Холостяк Russian: Holostyak	Пётр Фадеев Russian: Pyotr Fadeev	TNT	March 10, 2013 (Season 1)
United Kingdom	The Bachelor	Jeremy Milnes Hugo Speer	BBC Three Channel 5	March 30, 2003 – February 13, 2005 August 19, 2011
Ukraine	Холостяк Holostyak	Григорий Решетник (Grigoriy Reshetnik)	STB (Channel)	March 17, 2011

Parodies

Ben Stiller produced a web spoof of the series entitled Burning Love.

See also

• The Bachelorette
• Bachelor Pad
• The Littlest Groom
• More to Love
• Momma's Boys
• Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?

External links

• Official website
• The Bachelor at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bachelor at TV.com
• The Bachelor at Yahoo! TV
• The Bachelor at VH1