The Bachelorette is Ready to Start Production
Rob Mills ABC’s Vice President of Alternative Programming dropped details to Ryan Seacrest on Wednesday (June 17) on how The Bachelorette and The Bachelor will film amid coronavirus concerns.
Clare Crawley was announced as the next Bachelorette back in early March. But just before filming started, film and TV production shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But now, ABC announced that The Bachelorette IS part of the fall schedule.
Bachelorette cast will be tested for coronavirus, then locked down at a resort
The plan is to test participants for coronavirus ahead of production to make sure everybody involved is Covid-19 free. Then, during filming, everybody stays locked down in a fabulous resort, with plenty of spots for one on one dates.
“Here’s what we’re going to do: For Clare’s season, which is going to come first, that’s going to shoot in about a month,” Rob shared with Ryan. “Everybody is going to be at one location. Everybody is going to be tested a week before; everybody comes back negative; we shoot; and they’re inside that bubble.”
Rob added that The Bachelorette WON’T be shot at the mansion.
“They won’t be at The Bachelor mansion. They’ll be at some sort of resort and we’ve scouted several of them and all of them have been scouted for good date locations,” he added in regards to how they’ll handle filming group and one-on-one dates. “We had incredible travel planned for Clare’s season. We were going to Italy — all these places that were going to be great — but there will be plenty of different date locations that will feel hopefully as close to The Bachelorette as possible.”
The Bachelor will begin filming in September
With ABC’s announcement of their first black Bachelor, Matt James, Rob claims that the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Producers have received a record-setting 6,500 applicants to be bachelorettes.
As far as when The Bachelor will begin filming Rob says: “We’re hoping to start on time which will be the end of September and we’ll see where the world is,” Rob added. “Hopefully that’s when we would be at The Bachelor mansion. Maybe there’s some travel. Maybe it’s just domestic. Maybe it’s by bus, but we’ll see. If not, if things aren’t that safe, we’ll shoot it the same way [as Clare’s] where everybody is safe; they’re tested; they’re quarantined; and then you can have kissing, arguing and everything else.”
