Sunday, March 25, 2018 Welcome to Paradise
The mansion is gone and in its place is an idyllic island as WIN gets set to air its latest est reality dating show Bachelor In Paradise. Host Osher Günsberg tells DANIELLE McGRANE what makes the e show unique.
What’s better than a heap of single people all living together in a mansion? A heap of single people on a Fijian island.
For fans of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, some familiar faces including Keira Maguire, who was vying for Richie Strahan’s heart, Jarrod Woodgate, who was Sophie Monk’s runner-up, and Ali Oetjen, who was on Australia’s first season of the Bachelor, will all soon be seen looking for love yet again in the new spin-off show Bachelor In Paradise.
The idea here is to match several couples, not just one, and the series already comes with the tantalising possibility of a proposal.
But it would be hard for any of this magic to happen without ringmaster Osher Günsberg on hand to guide the singles along the way. The affable host says he was happy to pull up in paradise for a few weeks, all in the name of love.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for ages. It’s part of the stable of Bachelor formats that exist so it’s certainly not my idea but it’s definitely something we’ve wanted to do,” Günsberg said.
The host, who has been with the Bachelor franchise since its arrival in Australia in 2013, believes in the good intentions of every contestant who has appeared on the reality dating show.
Bachelor In Paradise offers a second chance, he thinks, to many of the contestants who have been on the shows looking for love.
“They’re great human beings that come to us,” he said. “They come to that mansion and they want to find love. They’re all genuinely there for the same thing … Some of them get their hearts broken and to be able to have the opportunity to give these people what they came to us to find is really great.”
With a lot of fan favourites returning from various seasons, Günsberg says viewers will get the chance to get to know them a little better.
“We get to find out a lot more about people that we otherwise got a glimpse of when they were in the mansion,” he said.
All the single contestants stay in the same resort together and are generally free to mingle and talk to one another. So the format does differ from the Bachelor/ Bachelorette, but there is still a rose ceremony.
“What’s great about Bachelor In Paradise is that the power shifts. For example, if there are 14 people in paradise – let’s say there are six boys and eight girls – during the first rose ceremony I’ll give six boys a rose each and they choose one person to give their rose to. So two people get left out and have to leave paradise,” he said.
Then this is where here things get interesting.
“What you’ve created reated is six couples. The next xt day I will send one, maybe e two, new men in and so now w you’ve got eight boys and six ix girls and the next rose ceremony emony I will give the six girls roses.”
It might sound cut-throat, but it’s a recipe for or love, according to Günsberg. erg.
“Through the process rocess people really do fall in n love and really powerfully y so. What happens is through ugh adding in new people, the e relationships either strengthen engthen or fracture,” he said. aid.
It’s a very differfferent prospect to the he Bachelor/ Bachelorette, shifting the balance of power from just one person.
“It’s a very differifferent vibe to the Bachelor,” Günsberg said. “It’s a great show, with th great people and we had ad a lot of fun.”
Günsberg: Through the process people really do fall in love and really powerfully so.”