The Bachelor | |
---|---|
Genre | Dating game show |
Created by | Mike Fleiss |
Presented by | Chris Harrison |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 21 |
No. of episodes | 218 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Mike Fleiss Lisa Levenson |
Running time | 60 minutes (2002–06) 90 minutes (2006–08) 120 minutes (2009–) |
Production company(s) | Next Entertainment Warner Bros. Television (2002–06) Warner Horizon Television (2006–) Telepictures Productions |
Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | ABC |
Picture format |
480i (SDTV) (2002–07) 720p (HDTV) (2007–present) |
Original release | March 25, 2002 | – present
Chronology | |
Related shows |
The Bachelorette Bachelor Pad Bachelor in Paradise Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise Bachelor Live |
External links | |
Website |
The Bachelor is an American reality television dating game show that debuted on March 25, 2002, on ABC. The show is hosted by Chris Harrison. The show's success has resulted in several spin-offs including The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Bachelor in Paradise, and Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise.
It is created and produced by Mike Fleiss and directed by Ken Fuchs. The After The Final Rose and other reunion specials are produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, CA.
As the show is designed, the series revolves around a single bachelor (deemed eligible) who starts with a pool of romantic interests (typically 25) from whom the bachelor is expected to select a wife. During the course of the season, the bachelor eliminates candidates (see The elimination process), with the bachelor proposing marriage to his final selection. The participants travel to romantic and exotic locations for their adventures, and the conflicts in the series, both internal and external, stem from the elimination-style format of the show.
The above description is a general guideline. In practice, the show does not always follow its designed structure, and those variations are often a source of drama and conflict.
The two most notable cases where the bachelor violated the premise of the show are Brad Womack, who selected neither of his final two women, and Jason Mesnick, who in the After the Final Rose episode broke off his engagement and several months later proposed (offscreen) to the first runner-up. (The two are now married.)
For the first two weeks of filming the contestants stay in "Villa De La Vina," a 7,590-square-foot (705 m2), six-bedroom, nine-bath home in Agoura Hills, California. The custom home, built in 2005, is located on 10 acres at 2351 Kanan Road. As of October 10, 2008, the home was listed for sale at a price of US$8.75 million. The final third of the episodes within a season are filmed traveling the world. Episodes have been filmed throughout the United States, Canada, England, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea to name just a few. The Agoura Hills, California mansion has not been used on several occasions, including during season 7- where filming took place in New York City, home of Charlie O'Connell, who had appeared in Sliders with his brother Jerry O'Connell; Paris, France for season 8; and Rome, Italy- where Lorenzo Borghese, who is half Italian, lived- for season 9.