Will ‘Bachelor Summer Games,’ ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’ and ‘The Bachelorette’ Air in 2020? Rob Mills Reveals How the Franchise Will Move Forward
On March 13, The Bachelorette Season 16 postponed production due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and fans are wondering what this means for the future of Bachelor in Paradise, Bachelor Summer Games, and other programs in 2020. As the ABC reality franchise typically releases shows year-round, it seems possible something will be pushed back. Of course, everything is still up in the air at this point. But recently, ABC executive Rob Mills explained where The Bachelor franchise could be headed moving forward.
‘Bachelor Summer Games’ probably isn’t happening in 2020
When speaking with Entertainment Tonight on March 11, Chris Harrison revealed it was “highly unlikely” the reality franchise would be able to pull off Bachelor Summer Games.
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Ringer’s Bachelor Party Podcast released on March 17, Mills hinted the summer program would not happen. That said, the network exec noted Bachelor Summer Games was never formally revealed.
“Summer Games was never announced,” Mills said. “So it was never official. It was something we were working on.”
He later added: “It was basically announced. We simply didn’t because we didn’t announce our summer schedule. It was absolutely going to happen if the world was in good shape. But unfortunately, the world had other plans.”
Mills then stated foreign contestants were a key component of Bachelor Summer Games. So it became especially difficult due to the coronavirus. This caused The Bachelor team to toy around with a few more ideas, such as using only American contestants.
However, it quickly became more trouble than it was worth, as other projects like Listen to Your Heart post-production and the potential senior Bachelor spinoff were also in the works.
“So you kind of have to make your choices,” Mills said. “[Summer Games] was the easy one to cut the bait on.”
What will happen to ‘The Bachelorette,’ ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’ and beyond in 2020?
We already know The Bachelorette Season 16 has postponed filming. In his announcement on Instagram, Harrison said the break would be at least two weeks. So we don’t know when production will resume. This means we also don’t know how the remainder of 2020 will be affected. But even so, Mills reassured fans The Bachelor franchise team is constantly discussing how to stay on schedule.
“We’re absolutely committed — God willing we return to normalcy somewhat soon — to trying the best we can to keeping things on track,” Mills told the Bachelor Party podcast. He then proposed a possible solution for when things calm down. And essentially, the order of production may switch.
“Do we swap out Paradise for Bachelorette to shoot Paradise first? Then Bachelorette then Bachelor? Or does Bachelorette start first?” Mills said.
Of course, nothing is decided yet. But regardless of what the franchise chooses to do, Mills said they’ll “try to be as nimble as possible to keep the train on the track as best as possible.”
But does this mean there’s a chance we’ll see shows like The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise airing at the same time? It’s not likely.
“I think that’s probably a tall order,” Mills said of two shows being aired at once. “Most of the production staff works on each separate [show]. The most important thing as well is quality control. You want to make sure there’s a good season. You don’t want to sacrifice in quality.”
Regardless, it seems The Bachelor franchise will just have to wait and see what happens moving forward. When asked about the future of Bachelor in Paradise — which typically films in June — Mills noted they’ll decide what to do when they know more.
“June is three months away,” Mills said. “So we’ll know a lot more a month from now.”
Read more: ‘The Bachelorette’: Clare Crawley’s Season Is Postponed, But There’s a Silver Lining
