Let the Bachelor Winter Games begin
Cast recruited from all over the world for ABC’s cheeky Olympic counterprogram
Bachelor Nation, meet Bachelor World.
With global attention focused on the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, ABC is aiming to siphon off eyeballs for some tongue-in-cheek counterprogramming in Vermont: “The Bachelor Winter Games.”
Cast members on the Bachelor spinoff hail not just from the U.S., but from Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, the U.K., Japan, China and nextdoor neighbour Canada.
The show will contain winter sports — biathlon and ice dancing for example — but most of the games will be of the romantic rather than athletic variety.
“The show cannot be about competition,” host Chris Harrison told the media on a recent conference call.
“That was the kind of fatal flaw with Bachelor Pad ... is that it became a game show. And it became about the money and the twist at the end,” he said, referring to that failed spinoff’s cash prize of $250,000 (US), which the last man and woman standing had to decide whether to share as a couple or keep for themselves.
“Well The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are successful because there is no twist. It’s always about relationships and so ... Bachelor Winter Games has to be about, at the end of the day, relationships,” Harrison said.
To that end, only 10 to 15 per cent of the four-episode show is devoted to sports competition. And “when we say these are competitions, there needs to be air quotes around them,” added Harrison.
“Some of the countries, if you look at Finland and Sweden and Canada, obviously these are winter sports (countries) and this is what they do. But for a lot of the people, we were teaching them to ski and then we threw them down a mountain in a downhill skiing competition. So again, the word competition needs to be used very lightly.”
That didn’t stop the producers from staging a cheeky, fauxOlympic style opening, with its own anthem and a parade presided
over by Bachelor royalty Trista and Ryan Sutter, who met on the first season of The Bachelorette and have been married for almost 15 years.
Some bona fide U.S. sports professionals were called in to assist: anchors Hannah Storm and Ashley Brewer, figure skating pairs champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner and figure skating medallist (and former Tonya Harding frenemy) Nancy Kerrigan.
Harrison said he and Storm go “full Anchorman” while commentating on the sporting events. “Like you really have to be serious about it or else it’s not going to be funny. And so while Ben (Higgins) is trying to skate and stay up in this ridiculous speed skating, I would call it a costume more than a uniform, we treated it as if it was Dan Jansen and Eric Heiden racing for the gold.”
The learning curve on the series involved more than athletics, for both the cast members and the producers. The other countries participating in Winter Games follow the Bachelor TV formula, but “there’s huge differences,” Harrison said. “Look at Bachelor Japan, Bachelor China, if there is one kiss during the season that’s a big deal.
“So obviously there are cultural differences, religious differences, all kinds of things that we had to take into account ... But to me, the beauty of this whole thing was it was bringing all of these cultures together and let’s tear down the borders — not in a political way — it was just a really cool way of getting to know each other.”
Higgins, who was The Bachelor in 2016, agreed. “There was just this ... community of people that came together (from) all over the world to build relationships and that’s exactly what it ended up being, and I think for that it was a huge success.”
Success in the Bachelor world, of course, means coupling up.
Harrison revealed that more than one couple emerged from the series, including some international relationships.
Canadian competitor Kevin Wendt, for instance, is rumoured to have formed a bond with an American cast member.
Harrison called the show
KEVIN WENDT
Age: 33
Hometown: Waterloo, Ont.
Job: Firefighter
Claim to reality TV fame: Besides getting engaged to inaugural Canadian Bachelorette Jasmine Lorimer (and subsequently breaking up with her), having one of the most disapproving parents in Bachelor/Bachelorette history. His mother called Jasmine a “chatterbox” on her visit to Wendt’s hometown and told her she’d have to learn to shut up about her own work so she could give her undivided attention to Kevin’s complaints about his more important job. So good luck to his American sweetie.
BENOIT BEAUSÉJOUR-SAVARD
Age: 31
Hometown: Montreal Profession: Restaurant maitre d’ Claim to reality TV fame: Besides being very charming, getting overly enthusiastic with his kisses when he got to spend alone time with Lorimer on a group date and then sucking her fingers on another group date. We shall see if he’s dialed down the intensity for Bachelor Winter Games.
“some of the best television we’ve ever produced, which scares me because now, instead of a one-off, I think we might be doing this every winter now.”