Storm sent ‘Bachelor’ to Wisconsin
Participants share behind-the-scenes look at filming
When Hurricane Matthew veered toward South Carolina in early October, the producers and cast of ABC’s “The Bachelor” headed for Wisconsin.
“Our first trip was supposed to be to Kiawah Island in South Carolina,” host Chris Harrison told Yahoo TV. “We had to change everything about what we were going to do . ... We were flying by the seat of our pants, booking random hotel rooms and setting up dates on the fly.”
That could explain why the dates were a bit more real-life than the previous week’s Backstreet Boys appearance, zerogravity airplane ride and training session with Olympians. “Bachelor” Nick Viall, who grew up in Waukesha and attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, took his dates strolling around downtown Waukesha, roller skating at Skateland in Waukesha (and later at the Milwaukee Art Museum), to a country music concert at the Pabst Theater and to a dairy farm in Omro.
The digs the 15 remaining women stayed in did not disappoint, though. Clifford Norris said he got a booking request from the show for his sevenbedroom, six-bathroom Cedar Grove house two days before the crew headed to Wisconsin. Seated on Lake Michigan about 45 miles north of Milwaukee, the 6,000-square-foot, $1,042-anight vacation home has lake views, a beach, a large deck and a trampoline.
Norris and his family, who live in Chicago, weren’t there during the filming, but watched the show Monday night.
“It was fun to see them in our rooms,” he said. “Watching them sitting on the couch drinking red wine, I said, ‘I hope they don’t spill.’ ”
Behind the cameras
As dates were filmed in Milwaukee, Waukesha and other parts of the state, local fans and businesses got a rare glimpse into the making of the reality competition show.
Kelsey Montey, front office manager for The Iron Horse Hotel, said the hotel was contacted “very last minute” by the show to film a one-on-one date in the lobby on Oct. 6. “All the ladies (in the staff meeting when it was announced) were freaking out,” she said.
“Nick was the one who wanted to come to the Iron Horse,” Montey said.
A fan of the show, Montey stuck around for the filming and landed a spot as an extra sitting in the background of the date.
“It felt super casual,” she said, with maybe 10 production crew members mingling with hotel employees and guests during the four or five hours they spent setting up in the lobby.
After the crew spent another two hours perfecting the scene and two camera angles, Viall and his date sat down for about an hour together around 8 p.m.
“It was interesting watching how much detail they put into filming a one- or two-hour episode,” which included just a few minutes of the Iron Horse date, Montey said. “They were very particular about where lights and chairs and lamps are and even where forks are on the table.”
Laura Strackbein, co-owner of The Rochester Deli and Periwinkle’s Bakery in Waukesha, said the production crew had been eating at her deli all week when they were approached about appearing on the show.
She said she was at first nervous that Viall and his date would be doing something risque during the segment but was pleased with how it turned out. Then she was worried they would cut their segment because it was too wholesome.
“They said, ‘No, this is what he wants to show when he comes back to Waukesha,’ ” she said. “We were so grateful that it wasn’t (the season’s villain) Corinne that came to our bakery. That would have not sat very well with our customers.”
Strackbein said her daughter, who was behind the counter when Viall and his date came into Periwinkle’s Bakery, was instructed on exactly what to say on camera.
Viall’s ex-girlfriend, Amber, who appeared sitting at the window of the deli, was sitting there on her laptop for quite some time before Viall arrived. She told guests in the deli the show had called her the night before. She is happily married and has two kids.